football | Thursday, June 16, 2022 12:04 PM (Revised at: Wednesday, June 22, 2022 10:17 PM)

How do the Premier League’s Big 6 clubs stack up against their Matchday 1 opponents?

Devang Prasad

The Premier League released its schedule for the 2022-23 season and now, fans across the world are waiting for the 5th of August for proceedings to commence.

The Premier League’s big six – Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham – will have their work cut out on Matchday 1 as they will have some tricky teams to contend with.

Looking at each ‘Big Six’ club’s scheduled opening game, we sourced data from Opta to see how they stack up against their respective opponents, overall, and in many instances when they’ve met on Matchday 1

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Arsenal Opening Day Record vs Crystal Palace

Mikel Arteta and his young Gunners will kick off their 2022-23 campaign with a trip to Selhurst Park. It will be a familiar opponent in the opposition dugout with former Gunners captain Patrick Vieira leading Crystal Palace.

The two London clubs have met once before, on Matchday 1. This was in the 2014-15 season and Arsenal eked out a 2-1 win at the Emirates, with goals from Laurent Koscielny and Aaron Ramsey cancelling out Brede Hangeland’s opener. Jason Puncheon was sent off in the 89th minute in that encounter.

Arsenal vs Crystal Palace Overall Premier League Stats

Overall PL Stats	Crystal Palace	Arsenal
Encounters in total	25	25
Wins	3	14
Draws	8	8
Losses	14	3
Goals scored	26	48
Goals conceded	48	26
Top Scorers	Luka Milivojevic (5)	Olivier Giroud, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (4)

Chelsea Opening Day Record vs Everton

Everton came out on top in the relegation battle last season and now Frank Lampard will welcome his old club to Goodison Park on Matchday 1 of the 2022-23 Premier League.

The Toffees and the Blues have met each other once on Matchday 1 and that was 27 years ago! The clubs played out a goalless draw on August 19, 1995.

Everton vs Chelsea Overall Premier League Stats

Overall PL Stats	Everton	Chelsea
Encounters in total	59	59
Wins	12	27
Draws	20	20
Losses	27	12
Goals scored	60	93
Goals conceded	93	60
Top Scorers	Steven Naismith (6)	Didier Drogba (7)

Manchester City Opening Day Record vs West Ham

The defending league champions will be facing West Ham on Matchday 1 for the third time.

The sides opened their Premier League campaigns by facing each other on August 11, 2007, and August 10, 2019.

In 2007, goals from Rolando Bianchi and Geovanni helped the Citizens, led by Sven-Goran Eriksson to a 2-0 win against the visiting Hammers, who were managed by Alan Curbishley.

In 2019, City hammered West Ham 5-0 at London Stadium, with Raheem Sterling scoring a brace.

West Ham vs Man City Overall Premier League Stats

Overall PL Stats	West Ham United	ManCHESTER City
Encounters in total	41	41
Wins	9	25
Draws	7	7
Losses	25	9
Goals scored	38	73
Goals conceded	73	38
Top Scorers	Michail Antonio, Tony Cottee, Iain Dowie (3)	Sergio Agüero (8)

Tottenham Opening Day Record vs Southampton

Spurs will start their campaign hosting Southampton and the sides have met on Matchday 1 once before and it was a historic day.

The Dell played host to Tottenham on Matchday 1 of the 1992-93 season – the first-ever season of the Premier League. There were no goals on that historic day as both teams shared points.

Tottenham vs Southampton Overall Premier League Stats

Overall PL Stats	Tottenham Hotspur	Southampton
Encounters in total	46	46
Wins	24	14
Draws	8	8
Losses	14	24
Goals scored	84	54
Goals conceded	54	84
Top Scorers	Harry Kane (11)	Matt Le Tissier (7)

Manchester United Opening Day Record vs Brighton

It’ll be the first league match for new Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag and Brighton are the first opponents. The Old Trafford faithful will be hoping for an immediate turnaround after what was their worst-ever Premier League season last campaign.

These two sides have never met on the opening day of a Premier League season before. They did, however, meet on matchday 2 back in the 2018-19 campaign. The Seagulls won 3-2 at the Amex Stadium for what was one of only two victories Brighton have notched up against United down the years.

Manchester United vs Brighton Overall Premier League Stats

Overall PL Stats	ManCHESTER United	Brighton
Encounters in total	9	9
Wins	7	2
Draws	0	0
Losses	2	7
Goals scored	18	9
Goals conceded	9	18
Top Scorers	Marcus Rashford, Bruno Fernandes (4)	Pascal Groß (4)

Liverpool Opening Day Record vs Fulham

Liverpool start their push for the Premier League title with a trip to London to take on newly-promoted Fulham. The Cottagers were by far and away the best side in the Championship last campaign. It’s their third promotion in five seasons and they’ll hope that this one sticks.

They were relegated at the first opportunity in both the 2018-19 and 2020-21 seasons. Both campaigns started with a defeat so they’ll hope to avoid that here. It’s a daunting prospect for the Cottagers against Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool side. Here are the overall stats for the two sides in the Premier League.

Fulham vs Liverpool Overall Premier League Stats

Overall PL Stats	Fulham	Liverpool
Encounters in total	30	30
Wins	7	18
Draws	5	5
Losses	18	7
Goals scored	24	55
Goals conceded	55	24
Top Scorers	Clint Dempsey, Luis Boa Morte (3)	Steven Gerrard, Daniel Sturridge, Luis Suárez (4)

Methodology:

We sourced all data for the above mentioned games from Opta
We also checked past schedules to see when these fixtures have happened on Matchday 1 before
Only Premier League data was considered i.e, 1992-93 season onwards

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