Chelsea

Nizaar Kinsella
BBC Sport football news reporter

Image source, PA Media

Enzo Maresca gets a fitting start to life as a manager at Chelsea as he welcomes his former club Manchester City.

The Italian, 44, built his reputation as Pep Guardiola's assistant and their connection, his past and his ability to compete with his former mentor will come into focus.

Chelsea are also gunning for City by building a multi-club model as they attempt to reach the summit of English football again under the Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital ownership.

A big defeat could, however, put Maresca under early pressure as he then faces matches where he is expected to win against Wolves, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth and West Ham.

Image source, Getty Images

Chelsea's Premier League fixtures for the 2024-25 season have arrived and if you haven't seen them yet you can find them here.

The Blues have early home games against champions Manchester City and Crystal Palace, and host local rivals Fulham on Boxing Day.

The reverse fixture at Craven Cottage is scheduled for 19 April.

Enzo Maresca's side end with games against Newcastle United, Manchester United and Nottingham Forest.

Fixtures for the Premier League opening weekend have been released.

The 2024-25 season will begin at Old Trafford with Manchester United welcoming Fulham.

Ipswich Town's 22 years away from the top flight will come to an end with a visit from Arne Slot's Liverpool, while fellow newly promoted sides Southampton and Leicester will visit Newcastle and welcome Tottenham respectively.

Elsewhere, champions Manchester City will begin their quest for a fifth Premier League title in a row by travelling to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea in Enzo Maresca's first game in charge.

The games will take place between 16-19 August.

Chelsea will begin their 2024-25 Premier League campaign against Manchester City at Stamford Bridge.

The match will take place on Sunday 18 August at 16:30 BST.

You can find all of Chelsea's fixtures here

Atletico Madrid have made a move for 24-year-old Chelsea and England midfielder Conor Gallagher. (Relevo - in Spanish), external

Gallagher might reject a move to Aston Villa as he is not keen on joining the club. (Football Insider), external

Meanwhile, Brazilian winger Estevao Willian has passed a medical with Chelsea, who agreed to sign the 17-year-old from Palmeiras last month. (Standard), external

Want more transfer news? Read Tuesday's full gossip column

Image source, Getty Images

The 2024-25 Premier League fixtures are being released on Tuesday at 09:00 BST - and you will see them on the BBC Sport website and app as soon as they are announced.

What should you look out for?

By chief football news reporter Simon Stone

Matches around European games

This will be even more keenly assessed than usual given the four clubs in the Champions League and two in the Europa League will have eight first-phase games rather than six. Long trips before or after European games do not go down well with managers.

Matches around internationals

There are international breaks in September, October, November and March. In Europe, the first three of those are for Nations League fixtures. World Cup qualifiers in Europe start in March 2025, though in South America and Asia they are being played in all four windows.

England managers tend not to be keen on blockbuster league matches immediately before a break and club bosses are equally unhappy at having to play key matches after them when so many players get back on Thursday or Friday.

Festive fixtures

To allow for a mid-August start, there will not be a winter break this season. The Premier League has assured clubs they will not be asked to play twice in less than 60 hours at any point over Christmas and New Year. That rules out any club playing on 26 December also having a game on 28 December. There will be no Christmas Eve fixture in the 2024-25 season.

As the FA Cup third round has been moved from its traditional home on the first weekend of January to the second, it does seem there will be four rounds of fixtures over the festive period - starting on 21 December and ending on 5 January.

New managers

Four Premier League clubs already have new managers - Fabian Hurzeler (Brighton), Enzo Maresca (Chelsea), Arne Slot (Liverpool) and Julen Lopetegui (West Ham) - with a fifth to come at Leicester. So that's a new era beginning at 25% of clubs before a ball has been kicked. Russell Martin will take charge of a top-flight game for the first time after Southampton's promotion.