Chelsea face Harry Redknapp’s Portsmouth in their 2008-2009 season opener at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

Chelsea will be out to claim the Premiership crown back off Manchester United under new manager Luiz Felipe Scolari. The former Portugal boss intends to waste no time in setting his stall out in the Premier League. Chelsea will be boosted by England International Frank Lampard signing a new five-year deal at the West London side.

FA Cup Winners Portsmouth will look forward to the season starting as they continue to improve under Redknapp. The South Coast club enjoyed their most successful season in the Premier League last time and out and will hope to push on even further this campaign.

Scolari has completely trimmed down the squad at Stamford Bridge, with seven players leaving this summer along with five more out on loan. The Blues have seen Claude Makele, Steve Sidwell, Khalid Boulahrouz and Tal Ben Haim leave, while Portuguese Internationals Deco and Jose Bosingwa have joined Chelsea.

Portsmouth have been active as you would expect with Redknapp in the transfer market, with Glen Little, Ben Sahar, Peter Crouch, Omar ‘OJ’ Alieu and Younes Kaboul arriving at Fratton Park. While the only sale has been Sulley Muntari to Serie A Champions Inter Milan.

Deco and Lampard should start for Chelsea, but will be without Salomon Kalou, who is with the Ivory Coast at the Olympics as they aim to get off to a winning start and go one better than the 2nd place finish last season.

Portsmouth will be hoping to return to the South coast with something to show for their trip to London, but a win might be too much to ask given Chelsea’s record at home. Redknapp should be able to pair Jermain Defoe with new signing Crouch for the first time at Pompey as Portsmouth look for steady improvement on last seasons 8th place.