United to face West Brom in EPL opener

Arsenal kick off season against Newcastle.

LONDON:

Champions Manchester United will kick off the defence of their Premier League crown at West Brom before facing Tottenham and Arsenal at Old Trafford, as the fixtures for the 2010-2011 season were announced yesterday.

United will travel to The Hawthorns on August 13 before consecutive home games against Spurs and old rivals Arsenal. Sir Alex Ferguson's team will complete their domestic campaign with a trip to Sunderland on May 13 next year.

Meanwhile, Arsenal will open their season against Newcastle at St James Park, where the Gunners squandered a 4-0 lead earlier this year as the Magpies battled back to draw 4-4. Arsene Wenger's men then have a daunting home fixture against Liverpool before travelling to Old Trafford for their tie with United.

Chelsea, on the other hand, open their campaign at Stoke before facing West Brom at Stamford Bridge.

Liverpool new signing Jordan Henderson will meet his old club Sunderland on the opening day at Anfield before the Reds travel to London to face Arsenal.

"It's a massive test early on. It's nice to have a home game first," said Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard. "Hopefully we will have a few new signings in and we can start the season with three points which would give us the confidence to then go and get a good result at Arsenal. That is a difficult place to go and we haven't won there for a while."

Published in The Express Tribune, June 18^th, 2011.