Defeat on the opening weekend of the 2017/18 Premier League season is not the start that teams want, especially for those with ambitions of the title.
But, with the fixtures for next season set to be released at 9am BST Wednesday 14 June, history suggests a winning start is not essential for the team who go on to lift the Premier League Trophy in May.
Last season's champions Chelsea opened with a 2-1 home victory over West Ham United. Before that, Leicester City started their fairytale 2015/16 campaign by winning 4-2 against Sunderland.
These are two of 16 times the team who went on to be crowned champions have won their opening fixture.
Record of eventual champions on MW1
| P | W | L | D | Win % |
| 25 | 16 | 3 | 6 | 64 |
As well as six draws, there have been three Matchweek 1 defeats for the future title-winners, and each of these losses belongs to Manchester United.
In 1992/93, Man Utd lost 2-1 to Sheffield United on the opening day of the competition but recovered to beat Aston Villa to top spot by 10 points.
Three years later, after selling Mark Hughes, Paul Ince and Andrei Kanchelskis in the summer, Alex Ferguson's youthful side suffered a 3-1 defeat to Villa, leading BBC pundit Alan Hansen to say: “You can’t win anything with kids."
But Man Utd won 25 of their next 37 matches to beat Newcastle United to the title by four points.
The last occasion the eventual champions lost on the opening weekend was in 2012/13. A goal by Marouane Fellaini, now at Old Trafford, gave Everton a 1-0 win over United at Goodison Park.
