Chelsea’s 2025/26 Premier League season kicks off on Sunday - with a home tie against London rivals Crystal Palace.
The game looks to be a standout from the first weekend; Palace are in top form after defeating Liverpool in the Community Shield, and bested them again in last season’s FA Cup final.
Enzo Maresca will hope to begin the new season on a positive note, with many tipping Chelsea for another successful season.
The Blues have suffered on opening day as of recently, with only five wins in the last ten seasons. Maresca also lost his first league opener as head coach last year, when Pep Guardiola got the better of his former assistant coach.
Ahead of Sunday’s game, here is a recap of Chelsea’s last few league openers - as well as a preview of how Maresca can get the better of Palace at the weekend:
United’s 4-0 demolition of Chelsea at the beginning of the 2019/20 season ties the record for the club’s heaviest opening day defeat in the Premier League.
The defeat was managed by club legend Frank Lampard, who replaced the departing Maurizio Sarri at the beginning of the season following an impressive playoff run with Championship side Derby County.
It was a trial by fire for Lampard: his style of ultra attacking football may have borne fruit in the lower divisions, but it was utterly picked apart by the Red Devils, who regularly exploited the space in behind.
On a better day the Blues may have seen one or two goals, with Tammy Abraham and Emerson Palmieri both striking the woodwork - but in the end they were undone by a composed and clinical United side.
The Blues ended the season's league campaign in a respectable fourth place - an impressive result, considering the club were serving a transfer ban at the time.
2020/21: Brighton 1-3 Chelsea
The 2020/21 opener was a memorable one for current club captain Reece James, who netted his first league goal in style.
His second half strike came after a thrilling start to the game - Leandro Trossard had evened the score after Jorginho put the Blues ahead from the spot.
The game took place amid league coronavirus restrictions, so there were no away supporters to cheer James on - but the goal will remain a memorable one in his Chelsea career regardless.
Lampard, still at the helm, set his intentions for the club to close the gap to first place and begin challenging for the Premier League title - but some difficult results led to his departure in early January, where he was replaced by Thomas Tuchel.
It was not all gloom for Chelsea - as both Lampard and Tuchel helped to coach the team to their second Champions League title, defeating Manchester City 1-0 in the final.
A straightforward victory over the Eagles in 2021/22 gave Thomas Tuchel the perfect start to his first and only full season in charge of the club.
Marcus Alonso was clinical from a set piece which had goalkeeper Vicente Guaita rooted to the spot, with Christian Pulisic capitalising on a rebound to make it 2-0 at the break.
The debut goal trend continued as Trevoh Chalobah scored his first for the club in similar fashion - a powerful strike from outside the box after being urged to shoot by the home fans.
The defender was overcome with emotion as he was mobbed by his teammates in celebration - highlighting the trust that Tuchel had in his abilities.
Chelsea would go on to lose both the FA Cup and League Cup finals to Liverpool, but made up for it by claiming both the UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup - two trophies that had eluded them up to that point.
2022/23: Everton 0-1 Chelsea
A Jorginho penalty was just enough to hand Chelsea all three points on opening day of the 2022/23 season - though things could have turned out much differently.
A lot was asked of the Blues’ defence, namely Thiago Silva and new signing Kalidou Koulibaly, who were put through their paces to handle waves of Everton pressure.
At the other end, the likes of Kai Havertz and Mason Mount looked tired and demotivated, lacking the finishing touch.
It was a shaky start to the campaign for Tuchel, who was relieved of his duties only a month later and replaced with former Brighton head coach Graham Potter.
This was notably the first season under the ownership of Todd Boehly and the BlueCo consortium, with huge investments made on several new signings.
Chelsea plummeted into 12th place, their worst league finish in decades - whilst Graham Potter departed in the same season after backlash from supporters.
2023/24: Chelsea 1-1 Liverpool
An evenly matched affair produced an evenly matched scoreline as Chelsea held Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool to a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge.
There was yet another debut goal by a defender - new signing Axel Disasi, who headed home from a corner.
While the scoreline was relatively small for a game of this stature, it certainly had the drama - with Mohammed Salah and Ben Chilwell both having goals chalked off for offside.
This was Klopp’s farewell season at Merseyside after nearly ten years at the club - and he would get the better of Chelsea later on in the season as the Reds claimed a 4-1 victory in the reverse fixture.
New head coach Mauricio Pochettino garnered praise for steadying the ship and sowing the seeds of success with the ownership’s new structure - despite only being given a single season in the hot seat.
He got the best out of Cole Palmer, Noni Madueke and Nicolas Jackson, with the trio racking up record goal and assist tallies in the league and helping the club climb back to a respectable sixth place.
2024/25: Chelsea 0-2 Man City
While he later steered the club to silverware at the end of the season, **Enzo Maresca**’s beginnings to life at Chelsea were rocky to say the least.
The Blues had played Manchester City in pre-season - where Erling Haaland scored a brace in the opening five minutes, later completing his hat-trick as the Cityzens won 4-2.
In the league, City picked up from where they left off - Haaland scoring again in a comfortable and dominant 2-0 victory.
It was clear the Blues still had some issues to iron out tactically and structurally - Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo were still getting used to their partnership and were not on the same page when Mateo Kovacic dribbled past the pair to score against his former club.
While the loss was unfortunate for Maresca, it was somewhat expected - City had just won their fourth successive Premier League title and looked comfortable throughout.
Chelsea were once again back at square one with a new coach, but could be thankful the scoreline was not larger and took many positives away from the game.
Four years on from their 3-0 victory against the Eagles on opening day, Enzo Maresca will be hoping for a similar outing when the two sides meet this Sunday.
Maresca is still winless against Oliver Glasner’s Palace side after two 1-1 draws last season, but will field a Blues side that are more cohesive, refined and dangerous in attack, whilst being aided by talented depth across all areas of the pitch.
The issues that plagued Maresca’s dip in form last season look to have been fixed - namely a lack of focus in the second half of games, but also a reluctance to make changes when his side are chasing a goal.
Palace are compact at the back and threatening on the counter, especially when utilising their wing-backs, but reinforcements in defence by Chelsea could help to shore up their defence and prevent shots on goal - namely Jorrell Hato and Dario Essugo.
In attack, Chelsea can boast a variety of different profiles, including Joao Pedro - who already has five goals in as many appearances for the Blues.
As discussed in their pre-match press conference, there is a certain ‘aura’ around the club at the moment - after a hugely successful end to the 2024/25 which saw them lifting the Conference League and Club World Cup titles.
For the first time in several years there is a sense of normality and calmness around the club - highlighted by a recent poll by The Athletic which ranked Chelsea’s fans as the most optimistic ahead of the new season.
The race for the title will be as tight as ever, with Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal all with a fair shout of lifting the trophy.
If Chelsea hope to stay competitive at the top of the table, they will need to begin positively this weekend with a win.