Premier League announce 2017-18 fixtures, Chelsea face tough start in first two months

The first official sign of a brand new season is fixture release day and that day is today! Oh what a glorious day! Though the season is still two months away and the preseason is just a little under one month away — Chelsea are set to reconvene at Cobham on July 7th, according to a few fragments of tabloidy news — we can now at least have something concrete to look forward to.

Of course, most of these fixtures will change between now and their scheduled date. TV companies Sky and BT have ultimate control over these (far too much, many would tell you) and just how many Chelsea games will actually occur at the traditional day and time of Saturday 3pm is decreasing by the year. Eventually, all games will be on Friday nights or Monday nights or anytime Sunday or perhaps even Saturday night, which is their latest brainchild.

In any case, the fixtures are now out, and Chelsea are set to start with a rather easy home date with Burnley.

This time last season we were simply hoping that Conte could light the fires and restore Chelsea to some measure of respect after the disaster of the 10th place finish. Our expectations are a fair bit higher now.

After Burnley, the season truly ramps up with a visit to Three Point Lane Wembley to take on Spurs. The next three home games after that are Everton, Arsenal, and Manchester City, with away trips to Leicester, Stoke, and Crystal Palace sprinkled in-between. That’s certainly not the easiest start, so we better get all the kinks out the system in that first game.

Here’s the full list of Chelsea 2017-18 Premier League fixtures, subject to change depending on TV coverage and other competitions.

Speaking of other competitions, with Chelsea back in the Champions League, here’s how our European matchdays are shaping up.

Leicester City (A) | MD 1 Sep 12/13 | Arsenal (H)
Stoke City (A) | MD 2 Sep 26/27 | Manchester City (H)
Crystal Palace (A) | MD 3 Oct 17/18 | Watford (H)
Bournemouth (A) | MD 4 Oct31/Nov1 | Manchester United (H)
West Brom (A) | MD 5 Nov 21/22 | Liverpool (A)
Newcastle (H) | MD 6 Dec 5/6 | West Ham (A)

Looks like a favorable pattern for at least the first four group games!