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Chelsea's Premier League fixtures for the upcoming 2022-2023 season were released on Thursday, along with the other 19 teams in the league.
The season starts on August 6 and is particularly special because the World Cup splits the season in half. The league will take a break on November 12 and resume on December 26, popularly known as Boxing Day.
This will be a challenging season for all the teams, not just in the Premier League but in Europe as well. The fixture list gives managers a good idea as to what to expect over the next 10 months and which periods are tougher than the others.
We look at four things that the fans can learn from the Blues' fixture list.
#1 Chelsea's tough start
This season's first fixture is an away trip to Goodison Park to play Frank Lampard's Everton. The Toffees beat Chelsea in this fixture last season and managed three important points in their bid for survival.
The Blues have lost their last four league games at Goodison Park and drew in the 2017-18 season, which is a poor record by Chelsea's standards.
Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester are among the first five fixtures although both games will take place at Stamford Bridge. Pre-season starts on July 2, so a couple of signings should be completed by then. The more time Thomas Tuchel gets to work with his full squad, the more the team will be ready for the new season.
#2 All big six teams at home in the first half of the season
All of Chelsea's home fixtures against the 'Big Six' teams (Manchester City, Liverpool, Tottenham, Arsenal, Manchester United) will be played during the first 19 games of the season.
The club do not have a home fixture against the big six during the second half of the season. Furthermore, games against Leicester, West Ham, and Wolverhampton Wanderers are also scheduled at home first.
Chelsea have only won once at home over the last five years against Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester United, and Arsenal while they have won twice against Manchester City.
The away record isn't any better, but it does mean that Tuchel and Co. will have some tough away fixtures at the business end of the season. Stamford Bridge will have to become a fortress again for the Blues to make a good start to the season.
#3 Another tough winter
Winters have been tough for Chelsea since the 2017-18 season. The club tends to run out of gas during this period after a good start as they have struggled to pick up points irrespective of the manager. The hope is that the will be additions to the squad this summer that will help change the mentality over this period.
The team face Bournemouth at home on Boxing Day, having won once and lost twice in their last three fixtures against the Cherries.
Manchester City (H), Liverpool (A), West Ham (A), and Southampton (H) are some of the other fixtures. The Blues have averaged 1.2, 1, 0.8, and 1.6 points in their last five games for these respective fixtures, which is a poor return.
#4 A testing end to the season
The end of the season does not get better with Manchester United at Old Trafford starting a run of tough fixtures. Chelsea have averaged 0.6 points at Old Trafford over the last five years.
Arsenal (A), Bournemouth (A), and Man City (A) make up three of the final five fixtures. The club have won twice against Arsenal and once against Bournemouth and Man City in five years.
The Blues tend to struggle during the end of the season, which often sees them get caught up in the top-four race.
For the last two seasons, Chelsea should have comfortably finished third. The 2020-21 season saw the team seal a top-four spot thanks to Tottenham's win on the final day while the team scraped third place last season thanks to Arsenal falling apart.
At the end of the day, every team has to play every other team twice each season but Chelsea have been far from consistent over the last five years. Newcastle (H) and Crystal Palace (H) are the only two fixtures the team have averaged three points in over the last five years.
It is going to be a transition season for the Blues as the club now have new owners. Chelsea will not be expected to challenge for the title, and at the moment, Tottenham are ahead based on their business in the transfer market.
If the club can better their current record at key moments in the season, then there will be clear signs of progression for Thomas Tuchel's side.
