The start of the 2015/16 season now has a date

Chelsea's 2015/16 season will begin in less than three months. Having been confirmed as Premier League champions on Sunday (woo!), the Blues have guaranteed themselves a place in at Wembley for the Community Shield. That'll be happening, according to an announcement on the official site, on Sunday, August 2nd, with the title defence starting a week later.

It'll have been almost three years since the last time we contested this particular trophy (as I recall we were beaten 3-2 by Manchester City in August 2012, with Ryan Bertrand and Fernando Torres scoring, and new signing Eden Hazard falling over when he tried a backheel pass), and we haven't actually won the thing since 2009. Granted, it's not a particularly important trophy, and it's sandwiched between a match against Barcelona in Washington DC on the 29th of July and a friendly against Fiorentina at the Bridge on August 5th, but I'd expect us to take it reasonably seriously regardless.

We won't know our opposition until after the FA Cup final on May 30th. It'll be one of Aston Villa and Arsenal, and while that might scream 'Arsenal' to you, me, and everyone else, we can never count out Tactics Tim from springing a surprise.