Defending champions Manchester City will begin their latest English Premier League title defence against Burnley, the newly-promoted team managed by former Man City great, Vincent Kompany.<\/p>\n
The bumper opening round kicking off the new season also features a promising match between two of the league\u2019s \u201cBig Six\u201d with Liverpool visiting Stamford Bridge to test the potency of the chemistry between new manager Mauricio Pochettino and Chelsea urgently.<\/p>\n
The season begins auspiciously on August 11 with City\u2019s trip to Turf Moor \u2013 on a Friday night laden with newsworthy narrative because of the presence of Kompany, whose most creditable 11-year tenure between 2008 to 2019 at the club was even commemorated with a statue of him erected outside the Etihad Stadium.<\/p>\n
The distinguished eight-year captain of City led the club to four Premier League titles, apart from having ended last season with the distinction of having led Burnley back into the top division in his current first season as a manager in English football.<\/p>\n
The former City star has already had a foretaste of how things could end up after having faced City as the manager of Burnley with an absolutely disastrous outcome as his team got thoroughly trounced 6-0 in the FA Cup quarter-finals in March. Obviously he would be much better prepared with a more formidable battle plan for this next exciting encounter in order to avert the repeat of their former debacle at the mercy of an indomitable City team under an imperious Pep Guardiola.<\/p>\n
As for juggernaut City, the Sky Blues\u2019 early season schedule looks relatively placid, which of course could be deceptive on the surface, with the champion facing the promoted Sheffield United team, after which they host Fulham and Nottingham Forest \u2013 all this within their first six games. A more ominous-looking October next lurks, awaiting City when they play Arsenal on (October 7) and Manchester United (October 28) away either side of hosting Brighton.<\/p>\n
Arsenal, which led City for the major part of the title race last season until a re-galvanized Guardiola team suddenly reared its familiar sinister head, begins the campaign with matches against Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace and then Fulham.<\/p>\n
Certainly looks like lots of goodies awaiting EPL football fans when the new season kicks off, for sure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"