Premier League GW1: Summation of each team’s summer and all you need to know ahead of the opening weekend fixtures

The Premier League returns this weekend with Arsenal and Crystal Palace kicking off the new season in a London derby at the Selhurst Park.

After over a month preparing for the 2022/23 season, we access the opening fixtures and each teams chances of making a perfect start to the new season, starting from Arsenal’s trip to Palace on Friday to Manchester City’s trip to the Olympic Stadium on Sunday evening.

Crystal Palace vs Arsenal

Crystal Palace have a growing reputation against Arsenal, losing only four of their last 13 games against the Gunners.

Their most recent meeting was not one of the matches Mikel Arteta and his side will want to remember as they were completely outplayed in a 3-0 Palace win at the Selhurst Park.

Arsenal have won four and lost five of their last 12 opening weekend games in the Premier League. Prior to this run, they won ten, drew one and lost one.

However, there’s an optimistic feeling around the club after their good summer business which has seen them bring in good players who have all fit in seamlessly into the set-up.

Moreso, they’ve enjoyed a successful preseason campaign, finishing it up with 4-0 and 6-0 wins over Chelsea and Sevilla respectively and now they can take courage from that to rewrite history against the Eagles.

Palace are also doing very fine on the back of their exceptional home run to the end of last season, which has seen them remain unbeaten in their last six Premier League home games and have kept clean sheets in the last five in a row.

Patrick Vieira’s side have also been on fire in preseason, winning three and drawing one of their last four, with Wilfred Zaha in very great form. The Ivorian’s good reputation against Arsenal will also be a plus for the host on Friday night.

Nonetheless, anything other than an Arsenal will be regarded a disappointing result for the club’s faithful, who are very optimistic heading into the new season on the back of a promising preseason and altogether a positive atmosphere around the club.

Kieran Tierney, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Emile Smith Rowe and Fabio Vieira have been on the sideline for Arsenal and Mikel Arteta has confirmed three of them might be in the squad for Friday night.

Thomas Partey is set to play in the opening game of the season for the first time since joining the club in the summer of 2020.

Michael Olise, Jack Butland, Sam Johnstone and James McArthur will miss the game for Palace while James Tomkins remains a doubt.

Fulham vs Liverpool

On Saturday, Liverpool kickoff their Premier League campaign with a trip to Craven Cottage against newly promoted Fulham Football Club.

They defeated Manchester City 3-1 in the topflight curtain raiser by winning the Community Shield at the King Power Stadium last weekend, and summer signing, Darwin Nunez enjoyed a dream debut.

The Reds will become the first team in top-flight history to face a newly promoted side in their first league game of the season in four consecutive seasons after facing Norwich in 2019-20, Leeds in 2020-21, Norwich in 2021-22 and now Fulham in 2022-23.

Jürgen Klopp side have also won all these fixtures and boast a good record on opening day since the German took over. A record of only one loss in their last eight games against Fulham, which also make them favourite for the maximum points.

Mohamed Salah has scored seven goals on opening weekend, a goal more will see him equal the record for most set by Alan Shearer, Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard.

Fulham will take courage from the results of the last time they were in the topflight, in which they avoided defeat in both league meetings against the Reds.

The first leg saw the Reds laboured to rescue a draw thanks to Mohamed Salah penalty after Bobby Reid had given them a first half lead in the 2020/21 season.

In the second leg, Mario Lemina’s strike on the stroke of half time sealed a 1-0 win for Scott Parker’s side on the day.

Ibrahima Konaté, Diogo Jota, Caoimhin Kelleher and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain will miss the game for Liverpool while former Liverpool youngster, Harry Wilson and Joe Bryan set to miss out for Marco Silva’s side.

Bournemouth vs Aston Villa

The Cherries kickoff their to topflight against a familiar for in Aston Villa. After finishing second in the Championship last season, Bournemouth have not done much business in the summer with only Marcus Tavernier arriving from Middlesbrough in a £12 million deal.

Their other two signings have been Joe Rothwell and Ryan Fredericks on free transfers, which put them in a very risky position of dropping back to the Championship come the end of the season.

They also look in a bad shape heading into this game having lost each of their final three preseason games to Braga, Bristol and Real Sociedad.

Their opponent, Aston Villa have done series of business this summer including the permanent signing of Philippe Coutinho from Barcelona.

Boubacar Kamara, Diego Carlos, and Ludwig Augustinsson have been major arrivals to bolster Steven Gerrard’s options.

They enjoyed a productive preseason, winning four of the five games played, the other one which was a draw against Manchester United, when they came from two goals down to snatch a draw thanks to Calum Chambers late header.

None of the last five meetings between Villa and Bournemouth has ended in draw and Bournemouth have the superior record, winning three of the meetings while Villa has lost one and won one in their last two visits to the Vitality Stadium.

Villa have almost everyone ready for the clash while summer arrivals, Fredericks and Rothwell are injury doubts for Bournemouth manager, Scott Parker.

Leeds United vs Wolverhampton Wonderers

After surviving relegation on the final day of last season, Leeds United have been very active in the summer transfer window and have signed some quality players to backup manager, Jesse Marsch.

Tyle Adams, Marc Roca, Rasmus Kristensen, Brenden Aaronson and Luis Sinisterra have all made the switch to Elland Road and along with the other players in the ranks, they enjoyed a fine preseason campaign.

The loss of Raphinha and Kalvin Phillips has been replaced by some of these new signings with Marc Roca in particular showing promising signs in his preseason appearances.

Injury crisis contributed to Leeds misfortunes last season and Jesse Marsch will hope to do away with such this season. However, they will have to endure a start to the season without some of the players who are yet to recover from injuries.

They host Wolverhampton Wonderers on Saturday. Wolves, have only completed one signing this summer in Center back, Nathan Collins, who arrived in a £20.5 million deal from relegated Burnley.

Adama Traore returns from his six month loan spell at Barcelona but alongside Jose Jimenez, Matija Sarkic, Nelson Semedo and Chiquinho, they are all expected to miss the trip to Leeds.

Wolves are unbeaten in their last four trips to Leeds, winning three but Jesse Marsch side were able to avoid defeat in both meetings last season, winning one and drawing one.

Newcastle United vs Nottingham Forest

Newcastle United enjoyed a stellar second half of last season and many can’t wait to see them get on this campaign even after adding some players in the transfer window. 

Sven Botman and Nick Pope are two summer arrivals while Matt Target has also been signed on a permanent contract from Aston Villa following a successful loan spell in the second half of last season and now they kick off a new season against newly promoted Nottingham Forest at home in their first game of the new season.

Since getting relegated in the maiden Premier League season in 1992/93, Nottingham Forest returns to the topflight looking to reestablish themselves as one of the big names in European football as they’ve been known though that will be a really difficult task.

They’ve made it easier on themselves and have shown ambition in the transfer window with the acquisition of very good players and from considerably top teams.

Jesse Lingard is the highlight of their signings so far. The Englishman arrived on a one-year contract following his Manchester United exit this summer while another player from United, Dean Henderson has joined on a season-long loan.

Taiwo Awoniyi, Omar Richards, Neco Williams, Lewis O’Brien, Harry Toffolo, Wayne Hennessey, Moussa Niakhate, Guilian Biancone and Orel Malanga have all been added to the books for manager, Steve Cooper.

Including extra time, Nottingham Forest have won three and lost two in five meetings with Newcastle United. It will be interesting to see how they get on against the Eddie Howe side in their first game back in the topflight.

Javier Manquillo, Jonjo Shelvey and Federico Fernandez the absentee for Newcastle while the fixture will also come too soon for Forest’s summer signing from Bayern Munich, Omar Richards.

Tottenham Hotspur vs Southampton

Antonio Conte arrived at Tottenham midway through last season and helped secured top four finish on the final day, edging north London rivals, Arsenal to the prize.

Ahead of the new season, Tottenham fans are optimistic of the chances of ending their years of trophy drought following the arrival of several good players.

Richarlison, Yves Bissouma, Ivan Perisic, Djed Spence, Fraser Forster and Clement Lenglet have been added while Christian Romero and Dejan Kulusevski have been signed on a permanent contract following their six month loan spells.

Many expect them to better their four place finish in the league last season and try to win a silverware but on Saturday they start their season against Southampton at the Tottheham Hotspur Stadium in London.

Ralph Hasenhuttl’s Saint have added Joe Aribo, Armel Bella-Kotchap, Romeo Lavia and Sekou Mara as two outfield players while Gavin Bazunu and Mateusz Liz joined the goalkeeping section, making up for the loss of Fraser Forster and Harry Lewis.

There has been some outing going as well at the Saint Mary’s with Thierry Small, Willy Smallbone, Shane Long. Kazeem Olaigbe, Caleb Watts and Dan N’Lundulu have all been sent out on loan.

However, Southampton did not have a fine pre-season in comparison with their host on Saturday’s opening fixture. They managed just one win and two draw in five games.

In contrast, Tottenham Hotspur had a fine preseason but lost their final game to former boss, Jose Mourinho’s Roma by a lone goal but they will be more comfortable playing at home and more confident than their opponent on Saturday.

Tottenham have won six and lost one of their last seven home games against Southampton with the only coming in their last meeting in February. Saints also managed to stay unbeaten against Spurs last season after previously earning a home draw earlier in the season.

Oliver Skipp will miss the match while Yves Bissouma, Ivan Perisic and Matt Doherty are injury doubts. 

For Southampton, Timo Livramento, Theo Walcott and Nathan Tella have all been ruled out.

Everton vs Chelsea

To round off action on Saturday, Chelsea travel to the Goodison Park to face Frank Lampard’s Everton.

Despite their struggle to avoid relegation last season, Everton were still able to beat Chelsea in the run-in thanks to Richarlison’s goal to seal a win 1-0 in May.

Despite being very dominant in this fixture in the past, Chelsea have won only one of their last eight games away to Everton, losing six. Moreso, they are winless in their last five visits, losing each of the last four.

This is a record that’ll give the host a lot of confidence heading into the opening weekend on the back of a preseason of mixed emotions, where they won two and lost two of the four played. The good news is, their wins have come in the last two.

Richarlison is the only big name departure in the summer while James Tarkowski, Ruben Vinagre and Dwight McNeil have all been added. More incoming still expected before the end of the window like Idrissa Gana Gueye and others.

Chelsea are also getting business done and are moving fast lately after an uncharacterized slow start to the summer. They’ve brought in Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly and a couple of youngers for the future.

Marc Cucurella is expected to becoming their next major signing from Brighton and while the move is close to actualization, it is unlikely that the Spaniard will be involved on Saturday.

Three wins from five preseason games played but it was not all good from Chelsea’s perspective even so after they lost 4-0 to Arsenal in the Florida Cup in their US Tour.

Chelsea are expected to be without Timo Werner while Everton have a long list of injury concerns and will be without a striker for the Chelsea game, with Dominc Calvert-Lewin still out injured while Salomon Rondon is suspended.

Andre Gomez, Andros Townsend and Tom Davies have all been ruled out as well.

Manchester United vs Brighton

On Sunday, Manchester United kickoff a new era with Erik Ten Hag’s first official assignment against Brighton, a side that beat then 4-0 in the penultimate game of last season at the AMEX.

Under the new manager, Manchester United showed a lot of promise in preseason, winning back-to-back games for the first time since February with the likes of Jadon Sancho, Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford looking like back to their best.

The highlight of their preseason was a 4-0 win over Liverpool. However, there have also been reasons for them to worry as evidence in most of their games lately.

Surrendered a two goal lead against Aston Villa to draw 2-2. Lost 1-0 to Atletico Madrid. Draw 1-1 with Rayo Vallecano in their final preseason game but Ten Hag remain positive that they are ready to kickoff the new season.

Brighton have lost Yves Bissouma this summer and the imminent departure of Marc Cucurella means they will have a dip in quality in those department else they make further signings this summer.

Their two signings so far have been attacking reinforcement in Simon Adingra and Julio Enciso arriving from Nordsjælland and Libertad respectively.

Manchester United have signed just three players in Tyrell Malacia, Christian Eriksen and Lisandro Martinez despite the departure of so many members of the first team squad.

The unfortunate news of Anthony Martial’s injury will be another major setback with the manager stating Cristiano Ronaldo is not ready. The Portuguese might be a risk start but in his stead, Anthony Elanga might be set to start.

Jakub Moder and Kacper Kozlowski will miss out for Brighton.

Manchester United have won each of their last six home games against Brighton and no draw has been produced in each of their last twelve meetings, with Brighton also recording three wins.

Leicester City vs Brentford

Leicester City are the only team yet to make a summer signing in Europe top seven leagues while their important players are heading out with some others close to the exit door.

Long-term servant, Kasper Schmeichel has moved to OG Nice after eleven years at the club. Ademola Lookman returned to his parent club of Leipzig before sealing a permanent move to Atalanta in Italy.

Youri Tielemans is very likely to leave this summer with only a year left on his contract while James Maddison and Harvey Barnes are being linked with exits.

But infield commitments has been positive for manager Brendan Rodgers. Leicester City won each of their final four preseason games heading into this contest and Ricardo Pereira remains their only injury casualty.

Their visitor, Brentford have signed Ben Mee, Aaron Hickey, Keane Lewis-Potter and Goalkeeper, Thomas Strakosha ahead of their second season in the topflight after a really good debut season, which saw them finish 13th on the log.

They won their final two preseason games against tough oppositions in Real Betis and Brighton.

Sergi Canos (suspension and injured), Ethan Pinnock and Kristoffer Ajer have all been ruled out for the match.

Leicester City have won each of their last four games against Brentford.

Manchester City vs West Ham United

Manchester City had to come from two goals down to earn a draw in their last match against West Ham United, of which a loss might have ended their chances of winning the league last season.

But to kickoff the new season, the pressure is much more light on the two-time defending Champions as they host the Londoners in the final kickoff of the opening weekend.

Manchester City have not had many preseason games to prepare for the new season and were thorn apart in the Community Shield final match against Liverpool last weekend at the King Power Stadium.

The addition of Braut Erling Haaland, Julian Alvarez and Kalvin Phillips has been major boost but the lack of enough preparation was obvious against Liverpool and Pep Guardiola will hope the lesson has been learnt by his players.

Aymeric Laporte is the only injury concern, the Spanish defender has been ruled out of action until September due to a Medial Collateral Ligament injury while they continue the hunt for a new left-back having parted ways with Oleksandr Zinchenko.

Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling and Fernandinho are other big name departures but the new signings are the likeness of these sold players but a left-back remains a priority.

West Ham United sealed Conference League spot and so far Gianluca Scamacca, Naif Aguerd, Flynn Downes and Alphonse Areola have been signed permanently.

Their preseason form has not been encouraging despite winning their first two, they ended without a win in five and new signing, Naif Aguerd is expected to miss out of action on opening weekend.

West Ham have lost each of their last seven visits to the Ethiad and Manchester City will be looking to extend this run and avoid a losing start to the season as they did last season to Tottheham.

Author: Kehinde Hassan Afolabi