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• Man City to open Premier League title defence away against Chelsea

  Manchester City will begin their Premier League title defence with a testing trip to play Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on the opening weekend.

  Pep Guardiola's side have already won a historic four straight titles and will begin their pursuit of a fifth consecutive crown with a tough away match on Sunday August 18 against a team now managed by Enzo Maresca.

  Man City have won their opening Premier League match in 12 of the last 13 seasons, though the exception was an away game in London when they lost 1-0 to Tottenham in 2021-22.

  This will be the first time in 53 years that Chelsea have begun a top-flight campaign with a match against the reigning champions. They last did that in 1971, losing to Arsenal at Highbury.

  The Premier League fixtures for 2024-25 were unveiled on Tuesday.

  Arsenal narrowly missed out to Man City in each of the last two seasons and Mikel Arteta's men discovered they will start at home to Wolves on Saturday August 17.

  It is Manchester United and Fulham who will open the season on Friday August 16, with the FA Cup holders playing at home in an evening fixture.

  Arne Slot's tenure as Liverpool manager starts with a trip away to play promoted Ipswich Town, who return to the top flight after a 22-year absence, while play-off winners Southampton will face Newcastle United at St James' Park.

  The opening weekend concludes on Monday August 19 as Leicester City host Tottenham in a difficult start to the Foxes' Premier League return.

  There are some other notable matches taking place in the early weeks of the season, with Arsenal away to Aston Villa in the two teams' second match of the campaign.

  The Gunners also have back-to-back away matches against Tottenham and Man City in September, meaning they will have had road games against three of the top five sides from last season inside the first five matchweeks.

  Man Utd, meanwhile, are due to face Liverpool at Old Trafford on August 31 in the standout fixture of Matchday 3.

• Tadic tips 'hungry' Bellingham to 'win next Ballon d'Or'

  Jude Bellingham "has everything to win the next Ballon d'Or", Serbia skipper Dusan Tadic insisted after his side fell victim to England's star midfielder.

  Bellingham was the hero with his first-half header ensuring Gareth Southgate's side got off to a winning start at Euro 2024, as they edged out the Eagles 1-0 in Gelsenkirchen.

  The Real Madrid midfielder built on the momentum from his memorable debut season with Los Blancos, for whom he scored 23 goals and helped win LaLiga and the Champions League.

  The second player after Michael Owen to score at the World Cup and European Championship before turning 21, he is also the first to do so for the Three Lions while playing his club football outside of England.

  And Tadic, who appeared as a second-half substitute in Serbia's first match at the European Championship as a unified nation, paid tribute to the 20-year-old.

  When asked whether he thought Bellingham was the difference in the Group C contest, the Eagles skipper told reporters: "Yes, definitely. I think he is a great player and a great personality. I think he has everything to win the next Ballon d'Or.

  "I think everything that he did was great today, he showed personality, he took England to the next level. He was always asking for the ball and I think he had a great game.

  "What I think is most important for such a young player is that he always takes responsibility. That is amazing to see, and you can see he is very hungry."

• Scriptwriter Bellingham thrills England boss Southgate

  Gareth Southgate said Jude Bellingham "writes his own scripts" after the England star sealed a 1-0 win for the Three Lions over Serbia.

  The Real Madrid midfielder was on target in Gelsenkirchen to take his international tally to four goals, becoming just the second player to score at both the World Cup and Euros before the age of 21 in the process.

  Bellingham timed his run into the penalty area to perfection to head Bukayo Saka's cross beyond Predrag Rajkovic, and put on yet another mature display way beyond his years.

  "I mean he writes his own scripts doesn't he," Southgate told BBC Sport.

  "The timing of his runs, it was a super bit of play in the build-up to the goal as well, and I thought at different moments all of our forward players looked dangerous."

  Southgate maintained his record of winning the opening in all four of the major tournaments that he has been in the England dugout, with only Alf Ramsey having a better win rate at international competitions. 

  England dominated the first half, but were forced to grind out the victory against a revitalised Serbia side following the interval.

  Southgate feels the way in which the game played out was good for his team heading into the encounter with Denmark on Thursday, though.

  "That's the reality of tournaments," said Southgate when asked if the victory was tougher than he was expecting. 

  "They are a strong team, and we had to suffer a bit which I think is really good for us to come through and defend out box the way we did was important for the group. 

  "We obviously had good chances to extend our lead and to kill the game which we didn't manage to take, so I was really pleased with a lot of the play, especially the first half."

  England were limited to just five shots throughout the contest, with Harry Kane coming closest in the second half as he saw his header brilliantly tipped onto the crossbar by Rajkovic. 

  Southgate referenced the difficulty of playing against Serbia's compact defensive rearguard, but was confident his forward line will be firing on all cylinders in the fixtures that follow.

  "Today was just the finishing and a good save from the goalkeeper with the header towards the end. But that will come," he added.

  "I am confident that we will score goals. We were playing against a back five which is not easy to create chances but we did and in the end, one was enough. 

  "I liked the fact that we had to suffer a bit without the ball because I think that is an area we have worked on a lot this week, and we were obviously so much better than we were last week in doing that."