From London to Luanda; from Tokyo to Toronto; from Sao Paolo to Sydney, soccer fans are excited as the most publicized domestic league in the world, the English Premier League kicks off for the 2023/24 season this Friday.
The first match is between defending champions, Manchester City and Burnley at the Turf Moor. Pep Guardiola will be facing his former captain at Manchester City, Vincent Kompany.
In their past five meetings dating back to November 28, 2020, the defending champions have always emerged victorious. Their last meeting on March 18, saw City thrash their opponents 6-0 in an FA Cup encounter.
Anything less than getting all three points will be a disappointment for the last season’s treble champions and a huge accomplishment for the newly promoted side.
A total of 380 matches will be played and the league will come to an end on May 19, 2024. As usual, 20 teams will participate in the league with all the teams playing against themselves on a home and away basis. Hence each of the teams will play 38 matches.
London-based teams are Arsenal, Brentford, Chelsea, Fulham, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United.
The city of Liverpool has the club that bears its name and Alex Iwobi’s Everton.
As their names imply, Manchester United and Manchester City are based in the city of Manchester. Aston Villa is based in Birmingham while Bournemouth is based in the city of Bournemouth.
Brighton and Hove Albion are based in Falmer while Burnley is based in the city of Burnley. Newly promoted Luton Town will bring Premier League football to the city of Luton. Newcastle United is based in the city of Newcastle and Nottingham Forest is based in West Bridgford.
Sheffield United and Wolverhampton Wanderers both bear the names of their respective cities.
Only five clubs are parading English managers. Roy Hodgson of Crystal Palace, Sean Dyche of Everton, Eddie Howe of Newcastle United, Paul Heckingbottom of Sheffield United and Gary O’Nel of Wolverhampton Wanderers.
There are four Spanish managers: Mikel Arteta of Arsenal, Unai Emery of Aston Villa, Andoni Iraola of Bournemouth and Pep Guardiola of Manchester City.
Pep, a serial winner.
West Ham manager, David Moyes is from Scotland while Australian Ange Postecoglou is in charge of Tottenham Hotspur. Nottingham Forests’ Steve Cooper is from Wales as well as Rob Edwards of Luton Yown.
Manchester United’s Eric Ten Hag is from the Netherlands while Jurgen Klopp is from Germany. Fulham’s manager, Marco Silva is from Portugal while Chelsea has Mauricio Pochettina from Argentina.
Vincent Kompany, who is in charge of Burnley, is from Belgium while Italian Roberto De Zerbi is the gaffer of Brighton and Hove Albion.
