Euro 2020 is in full swing, but never forget your first love – club football!
The Premier League offered us a cheeky ‘do you miss me?’ teaser on Wednesday morning, by releasing the fixture list for the 2021/22 campaign, starting from the weekend beginning August 14.
The opening day of the Premier League season can often throw up some tame business, with the big boys rarely going against each other. But this year’s edition is full of tasty stories and potential pitfalls, and frankly, we’ve got in the mood for some domestic action – of course after the euro.
So, what’s the most important thing to keep an eye on in the first ten games of the Premier League season?
Story: Bees back in the great time – against a familiar enemy.
Bina Surrar / Catherine Ivill / Getty Images
Brentford is finally a Premier League club! Bees have been threatening to break into top flight for several years now, but they finally got it right last season. Their first test in a long time is Arsenal – by the way their last enemy in top class.
Opta lost the key story of this and noted that the last game Brentford ever played in the top flight – 74 years ago – was a 1-0 defeat to Arsenal in May 1947. If it’s not inspiration for revenge, I simply do not know what which is.
Story: Anti-football against XG deniers
A meeting with contrasting senses / Dan Istitene / Getty Images
This is what happens when two very different worlds collide. Burnley, the kings of efficiency and route a football face Brighton, the most inefficient yet beautiful football side of England. Stylistically, there could not be two more polarizing teams in the bottom half of the Premier League.
The Seagulls are also on the warpath to defeat their biggest enemy, Expected Goals, also known as xG. Graham Potter’s men know where the target is and are often not under any pressure in front of it, just to fluff it up. Insert GIF here by Sandra Bullock with blindfold on a boat to describe their finishing technique.
Story: Not Frank Lampards Chelsea vs Frank Lampards Crystal Palace
Lampard may be in the castle excavation / DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS / Getty Images
Frank Lampard is now truly a part of Chelsea’s past, having been sacked halfway through last season, only to see Thomas Tuchel replace him and do a much, much better job than he did. But he could become part of Crystal Palace now.
The Blues legend could return to the top spot with the Eagles, where his first task would be to defeat the man who recently won the Champions League for Stamford Bridge fans. A small victory, if anything.
Story: Former coach now at Real Madrid & Barcelona against former coach now at Barcelona
Talk about failing upwards / Quality Sport Images / Getty Images
Will it be any consolation for fans of Everton and Southampton that while they try and fail to push their way into the top teams of the Premier League, they are both well represented in probably the biggest game in world football?
That’s right, former coach of both Toffees and Saints Ronald Koeman has stayed at the Barcelona job for another season, while the recently retired Carlo Ancelotti has replaced Goodison Park with the Santiago Bernabeu and Real Madrid. Try not to think about these two too much during this 0-0 deadlock.
Story: Battle of the big boy wannabes
Tielemans was emotional after Leicester’s top four failure / Laurence Griffiths / Getty Images
Leicester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers have both fought hard to first become everyone’s second team and then break into the pack with big boys in the Premier League. The foxes lead the race on both points, but they have not yet returned to the promised land with top four.
Wolves will be led by new coach Bruno Lage, so all eyes will be on how he is coping with the brilliant mind of Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers. It promises to be an exciting clash between these two ambitious clubs.
Story: Meeting one of England’s biggest rivalries – with fans
An iconic moment in this rivalry / Alex Livesey / Getty Images
Of all the competitions during the season’s opening weekend, this one is the most eye-catching. Manchester United and Leeds United. Two legendary clubs and two great rivals. The hatred between the two sides has lingered, even when the whites were down in the championship in the championship and League One.
Leeds enjoyed a famous victory over the Red Devils as early as 2010, when they got stuck in the third team of English football, they traveled to Old Trafford to pick up a shock 1-0 victory over the Premier League giants in the third round of the FA Cup. No fans on the ground ruined last season’s meetings, so let’s hope we’re treated to the hostile atmosphere this time.
Story: Derby ‘Release Andy Carroll’
A Hammer and a Magpie / Alex Morton / Getty Images
Are you even a Premier League side if Andy Carroll has not come with 10 minutes left and won some headers for your cause? Yes you are. But he has been a key figure in both West Ham United and Newcastle United’s recent history and spent seven years in East London before returning home to the North East for two seasons.
However, Carroll’s career with both clubs ended in the same way. He was released by Hammers and Magpies and is now looking for a new club. Will one of these sides admit that they made a big mistake by letting the human lamp post go away and taking him back for one last season? No, but he will get a couple of mentions on come, we reckon.
Story: Haunt by Luis Suarez’s ghost
In some ways, Norwich City fans should feel privileged to have been hand-picked by Luis Suarez as the club against which he would make a collection of his greatest goals ever. Supporters were forced to watch as the Uruguayan forward scored 12 goals and provided three assists in just six games against the Canary Islands, including some of the most memorable strikes of that time.
Norwich will be worried that his spirit lives on in another red on the pitch for the season opener, or worse, that Liverpool will bring him back for one last hurray of the summer. Seeing him get off the bench and score seven goals in ten minutes would really roll back the years.
Story: Harry Kane did a hat trick against his boyfriend’s club
Can be on the go / Visionhaus / Getty Images
The interior design gods have decided that Harry Kane will become a Manchester City player at the beginning of next season – that is the only logical explanation for the Citizens picking Tottenham Hotspur on match day 1.
We can only see it now. Kane wins the Golden Boot on the way to taking football home to England, decides that the move to Manchester is the only way to satisfy his now insatiable thirst and hits a hat-trick past his former employers on his debut.
Wait with the camera to pan for crying Spurs fans around their beautiful, beautiful stadium.
Story: Birmingham City boy Troy Deeney who won the Premier League return
A Revenge Lover / Gareth Copley / Getty Images
Troy Deeney is back in the Premier League – whether we like it or not. The Watford striker will enjoy his team’s first outing in the top flight when they welcome Aston Villa to Vicarage Road. There is not too much animosity between the two clubs, but a man who really carries an ax to grind is Mr. Deeney.
The robust striker is a Birmingham City fan and has over the years taken great pleasure in silencing his biggest rivals, Villans. So, what better way to announce that he is returning to the Premier League than by making the winner against his personal rivals to give Watford their first three points of the season?
