The first major fixture of the 2026\/27 Premier League campaign takes place on Sunday, with reigning champions Arsenal at home to Chelsea.<\/p>\n
It is a meeting that immediately stands out on the calendar, bringing together two of the league\u2019s most recognisable sides at the earliest stage of the season. Arsenal arrive as the holders, while Chelsea provide the opposition in what is already being framed as a headline contest.<\/p>\n
With the campaign still in its opening stretch, the match carries obvious significance simply by virtue of timing and status. A home fixture for the champions adds another layer to a game that will draw attention well beyond the two clubs involved.<\/p>\n
The clash is the first major blockbuster of the new league season, and the setting ensures it will be watched closely as the 2026\/27 schedule begins to take shape. For Arsenal, it is a chance to defend their position in front of their own support. For Chelsea, it is an early opportunity to test themselves against the champions.<\/p>\n
No further detail is needed for the fixture to command interest. Arsenal against Chelsea remains one of the most prominent meetings in the Premier League, and this Sunday\u2019s encounter opens the season with a notable contest at the top end of the competition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arsenal host Chelsea on Sunday in the first major Premier League fixture of the 2026\/27 season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19194,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,190,172],"tags":[1836,1981],"class_list":["post-19195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-chelsea","category-epl","tag-2026-27-premier-league","tag-gameweek-1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}