Chelsea’s Gary Cahill (left) battles for possession of the ball with West Ham United’s Diafra Sakho (right) during the Barclays Premier League match at Stamford Bridge, London.
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The Christmas and New Year period is favourable as we have back-to-back home games against West Brom and Crystal Palace before taking on Bournemouth away at the start of 2017.
Leicester are at newly promoted Hull as they look to ensure an astonishing sequence continues, with the defending champions never losing their first game of a campaign in the Premier League era.
Here the Liverpool Echo’s David Prentice takes a look at what lies in store for Jurgen Klopp in his first full season in charge of the Reds. Guardiola’s first league game as City manager is at home to Sunderland.
Conte has a tough first match at home to West Ham, but Chelsea’s record on the first weekend is superb, with 14 wins and three draws from their last 17 games.
There will not be long to wait for the first Manchester derby between Mourinho and Guardiola, which takes place on 10 September at Old Trafford – the fourth week of the season – with the Etihad Stadium meeting pencilled in for 25 February.
Last season, the East London club earned five points from those four fixtures, beating Liverpool away, drawing at Man United, losing at Spurs, and drawing at home with Arsenal.
Can Bilic lead West Ham to a Champions League spot? The game could be crucial to both sides’ hopes of a title push and Arsenal will be particularly anxious not to find themselves playing catch-up so early in the season.
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The 2016-17 English Premier League (EPL) season will begin on August 13, when Arsenal take on Liverpool, the English Football Association announced on Wednesday.
