Mauricio Pochettino will take charge of his first competitive game as Blues boss on Sunday evening as his team hosts Liverpool at Stamford Bridge.
Pochettino will be desperate to make a positive start with the side which finished 12th in the top-flight after a disastrous last campaign.
Chelsea looked rejuvenated and so bright in pre-season as they won four of their five games in the off-season, which was capped off by the Premier League Summer Series win.
But Pochettino and his charges will come up against Jurgen Klopp, who was not pleased with his side’s performance last season.
The Reds performed below their usual standards to finish fifth on the log, and disappointingly missed out on a Champions League spot.
Just like Chelsea, Klopp’s men looked to be firing again in a pre-season filled with goals.
Team News
Chelsea will be without new signing Christopher Nkunku after he suffered an injury during pre-season. Nkunku is set to have surgery on his knee after suffering meniscus damage, meaning he will likely be sidelined for a considerable amount of time.
Fellow new arrival, Nicolas Jackson is expected to lead the line while returning loanee Levi Colwill may start at centre-back.
Benoit Badiashile, Trevor Chalobah and Noni Madueke are both recovering from knocks with the former unlikely to feature for the first few games of the season.
As for Liverpool, their search for a defensive midfielder continues, with Alexis Mac Allister featuring in a deeper role in their final pre-season friendly.
Mohamed Salah, Diogo Jota, Luis, Diaz, Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez are all competing for attacking positions, leaving Klopp with a selection headache.
Thiago and Stefan Bajetic are the only Liverpool players who are struggling for fitness for the season opener due to injuries suffered.
Match facts
Finding a winner in this fixtures for last two seasons in all competitions has been rare as each of those meetingd between have been drawn – with the last four finishing goalless.
Liverpool haven’t lost their opening Premier League game in any of the last 10 seasons – winning eight and drawing twice since their 3-0 loss to Westbrom Albion in 2012.
On the other hand, no team has won more of their opening games to a Premier League campaign than Chelsea. The Blues have won 20 of their match day one games and collected the most points (66) on the first game than any other side.
This is just the second time Chelsea and Liverpool are facing each other on the opening game of a Premier League season after the 2003/04 encounter at Anfield when the Blues won 2-1.
Liverpool striker Mo Salah has scored in all Liverpool’s six Premier League openers and holds the record for scoring the most goals on match day one in the competition (8).
chelsea new boss Pochettino has won five of his previous seven MD1 games in the competition (D1 L1), with the only defeat coming at Manchester United in 2015-16.
