I'm not quite sure when FIXTURE DAY became such a big deal, but it's gotten to the point where Chelsea TV are running a live reaction show. This is super duper important, you guys. There are rules, even!
I suppose it is the first real sign of next season, and it's always fun to speculate which dates might be more important than others, who will we play during the congested holiday period, who will we play before and after Champions League matches, and, of course, who will we play on Matchday 1.
And the answer to that last million dollar question is ...
#FixtureReleaseDay Here's how the opening round in the #BPL shapes up... pic.twitter.com/pdMbbC39Gk
— Premier League (@premierleague) June 17, 2015
We've had favorable early-season schedules in recent seasons, and this year we will start with Diego Costa's favorites, Swansea City, against whom we won 5-0 last time out. Apparently we are the "Kings of Opening Weekend," so let's keep that going. The difficulty ramps up rather quickly from there though as we visit Manchester City on Matchday 2. Be sure to check out the full list of fixtures over at the Premier League's official site.
Chelsea fixtures for the season 15/16 - what do you lot think? #CFC pic.twitter.com/RRBCxquikc
— L3ahpar (@l3ahpar) June 17, 2015
If you're looking at how this looks with Champions League commitments, the group stage matchdays are as follows:
- September 15-16 (before: Everton away; after: Arsenal home)
- September 29-30 (before: Newcastle away; after: Southampton home)
- October 20-21 (before: Aston Villa home; after: West Ham away)
- November 3-4 (before: Liverpool home; after: Stoke City away)
- November 24-25 (before: Norwich City home; after: Spurs away)
- December 8-9 (before: Bournemouth home; after: Leicester City away)
The 2015-16 season starts (and ends) extra early due to next summer's European Championships. Just a month and a half until the Community Shield (August 2) against Arsenal. We will even play one final friendly (against Fiorentina) before our opener against Swansea on August 8, provided it doesn't get moved for TV coverage as many of the others will.