While I wouldn't go so far as describe Chelsea's offseason as a summer of discontent, they definitely did not have the kind of relaxing break that a title should allow for. Between the Diego Costa saga, Matic leaving to a rival to everyone's surprise, grumblings about Conte's new contract and Roman's divorce being all in the tabloids, the setting wasn't the most serendipitous for a good start to the season. But it's really 15minutes into the first game, with Cahill off after a bad though possibly unintentional tackle, when you knew that the struggle was going to be real. Now they go visit bitter rivals Spurs with some key personnel (Cahill, Fabregas, Hazard, Bagayoko) missing. I guess this is the part where loaning out 4 squadfuls of players doesn't sound so smart. Spurs weren't perfect against Newcastle last week, but they didn't need to be. They have most of their regulars available and surely smelling blood in the water. Much has been made of their slow adaptation to playing at Wembley, but if there's one game they'll be up for, it's surely this one. Especially with a potential club record 15th straight home victory at stake.

La Liga's opening weekend will probably be a bit more somber than usual due to the events in Barcelona, but hopefully futbol is the main news of the weekend. Barca have had their latest bid for Countinho rejected, leading to amounts that are starting to look unseemly for someone who is definitely skilled yet eminently streaky. But that's the state of things in the transfer market these days.


EPL
Sat 19 Aug 2017
07:30a Swansea - Manchester United
10:00a Bournemouth - Watford FC
10:00a Burnley FC - West Bromwich
10:00a Leicester City - Brighton
10:00a Liverpool FC - Crystal Palace
10:00a Southampton - West Ham
12:30p Stoke City - Arsenal FC
Sun 20 Aug 2017
08:30a Huddersfield - Newcastle Utd
11:00a Tottenham - Chelsea FC
Mon 21 Aug 2017
2:00p Manchester City - Everton FC