By Kevin Mapasure Warriors stars Marvelous Nakamba and Jordan Zemura are set to clash in the opening weekend of the English Premier League (EPL) with their respective sides, Aston Villa and Bournemouth paired for the season opener.
But Zemura and his team face probably the toughest start for the newly-promoted side.
The EPL yesterday released fixtures for the 2022-23 campaign, which is set to kick-off on August 5 with a Crystal Palace versus Arsenal clash.
Liverpool, who finished second in the just-ended campaign travel to newly-promoted Fulham for a lunchtime kick-off, with Everton vs Chelsea match being a late kick-off coming in after three other four other fixtures, including the Bournemouth vs Villa clash.
Champions Manchester City have a tough opening fixtures; travelling away to London for a match against Westham while Manchester United start off with a home tie against Brighton on August 7.
Zemura’s Bournemouth face a nightmarish start to the campaign as they have to play Aston Villa (home), Manchester City (away), Arsenal (home), Liverpool (away) and Wolves (home) in their first five fixtures on return to the topflight after they were promoted from the second-tier league.
They will have a run of softer fixtures in September and October as they look to preserve their topflight status under Scott Parker.
Zemura will be making his EPL debut having impressed as Bournemouth finished second in the Championship to earn an automatic promotion spot.
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The 22-year-old told Bournemouth Echo before the fixtures were released that he was looking forward to life in the top league and added that he was targeting playing in the Champions League.
“I am eyeing the game against Man United! I am eyeing it,” he admitted. “Hopefully, Ethan (Laird) will be playing and it will be nice to go up there. But we have got to get back for pre-season when it is time, but for now we are just going to rest, enjoy and have a good summer.”
Asked if he was confident he would impress again at the top level, Zemura insisted: “Yeah, 100%. I am young, I am 22, I am excited to be able to be at this age and achieve what I have achieved so far.
“But right now, I can’t stop here. I don’t think my ceiling is the Premier League even, I want to be higher than that, I want to go and play in the Champions League.
“We have just got to go with the flow and enjoy the moment.”
For Nakamba, the start for his team is not as tough as that of Zemura’s Cherries as they face Bournemouth (away), Everton (home), Crystal Palace (away), West Ham (home) and Arsenal (away in the first five.
- Follow Kevin on Twitter @kevinmapasure
