May 31st. Time waited for no one.
Ready or not, the thirty-eighth round of the Premier League kicked off right on schedule.
All ten matches began at the same time.
Newcastle traveled to Stamford Bridge, while Chelsea held the advantage of time and place.
Arsenal traveled to the Theatre of Dreams, with Manchester United enjoying home-field advantage.
Manchester City faced West Bromwich.
Crystal Palace took on Leicester City.
All of these were highly anticipated matches.
Manchester City still had a strong chance of breaking into the Premier League's top four.
But the main focus was on Chelsea vs. Newcastle and Manchester United vs. Arsenal.
For Newcastle, starting center-back Deyas had rested and recovered, returning for this match.
Sasso consequently moved further forward, once again serving as the team's defensive midfielder.
Newcastle had recovered their iPhone, fighting with both kidneys.
Other than Sober, they had fielded their strongest lineup.
Mandzukovic
Bridge, Lu Yang, Chiesa
Sasso, Tavares
Boyle, Kompany, Deyas, Reece
Amerucci
4231!
Chelsea, having rested for so long, naturally fielded their full-strength lineup as well.
Talista, Dominguez
Ferreira
Redknapp, Joseph
Malonso Mendoza, Tesli, Kadu Kuba, Lam, Nelson Canicel
Peter Ciesek
5212!
Malonso was one of Chelsea's breakout players this season.
He had come through Real Madrid's youth academy, but ultimately failed to make his name there. In search of more opportunities, he joined Serie A side Fiorentina, where he had been teammates with Carlisle and Versace.
Two years ago, Chelsea worked their financial magic and began their survival-of-the-fittest approach, bringing Malonso to Stamford Bridge.
After two and a half years of competition, Malonso had finally risen through the ranks and become Felish's starting left-back.
Meanwhile, over at the Theatre of Dreams—
Manchester United's starting lineup was:
Aveiro, Perotta, McLaughlin
Donny Camp, Gilbert Apare, Mickey Frankie
Nicolussi, De Ligt, Turan, O'Shea Neville