Premier League football returns less than a month after the World Cup final

Premier League football returns less than a month after Tottenham’s Hugo Lloris lifted the World Cup trophy in a rain-drenched Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on 15 July.

The 2018/19 season kicks off with a televised Friday evening clash between Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United and former title winners Leicester City at Old Trafford.

United’s record signing Paul Pogba impressed with his performances in France’s World Cup winning campaign and fans will be eager to see if the midfielder, who was regularly criticised by pundits and his manager last season, can replicate his international form in the Premier League.

Manchester City begin their title defence away from home at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, where the north-London side begin a new era under Unai Emery after Arsene Wenger brought his 22-year stint at the club to an end last season.

Elsewhere runaway Championship winners Wolverhampton Wanderers are in televised action twice this August as they return to the Premier League with high hopes under former Porto and Valencia boss Nuno Espirito Santo and with a raft of new signings. 

Wolves return to the Premier League

Wolves returned to the Premier League at a canter last season under the guidance of Espirito Santo. With the club already nailing down impressive summer signings, such as Portugal international goalkeeper Rui Patricio, Wolves fans are daring to dream of an extended stay in the top flight, and possibly more. 

Jamie Atkins, licensee of the Great Western pub in Wolverhampton commented: “as a Wolves boy born and bred, it makes me proud to see our town team arrive in the top flight of English football.

“I hope that our town council will match the ambition of their local team.

“The Great Western is a busy pub that promotes old fashioned values and is exceptionally busy on match days with the majority being due to our dyed in the wool fans whose families have held season tickets for many generations. They will always offer a warm welcome to any away fans that we allow through our doors.

“There are just two small downsides to our arrival in the top flight.

“Firstly, many of our customers have a fairly easy pass out for a Saturday afternoon from their families and we have fans that travel far and wide including Ireland on a regular basis. TV coverage of games alter hours and days of kick-off, sometimes at short notice. I have known many of our customers who have booked their travel arrangements in advance only to lose out because of a fixture change.

“Secondly, because of the above and the fact that we will have four fewer home games this season, this impacts on my match day business.

“However, both our supporters and I are happy to make these kind of sacrifices in order to see the mighty Wolves in the position they are. We wish them every success as we switch our English dream from possible World Cup glory to maybe Europe the season after this?”

Arsenal take on two of the previous three Premier League champions in August under new manager Unai Emery

Arsenal, who kicked off last season by welcoming former champions Leicester City to the Emirates in the Premier League’s first ever Friday night match, will host defending champions Manchester City to north London in their opening Premier League fixture of the season.

The fixture offers a dream start for Martin Whelan of the Tollington Arms in Islington, London, who's pub is a stone’s throw from Arsenal’s Emirates stadium.

"It doesn't get any bigger than City for the first game. I hope that because not so many of our players have been at the World Cup we won't collapse like in the last two games where we played them. It'll be interesting with the new manager and players.

"After Christmas we did have a drop in trade. It was the first year in the 22 under Wenger that there was so much negativity and if it's negative down in the stadium it does reflect on local businesses. The results were really poor and they weren't all happy chappies last year from February onwards. This year hopefully there'll be more positivity.

"The City game will be massive at 4pm on a Sunday – we're one of the main Arsenal pubs and will be thronged for that. The ideal times are either 3pm on a Saturday or 4pm on a Sunday.

"We've got City and two London derbies – Chelsea and West Ham so the team are right into the mix, it could be a very interesting August.

"Spurs is the biggest game of the season, then there's United, Liverpool, Chelsea and West Ham is always very good because there is a local rivalry there – you get a spike for all the London derbies."