Big Games – week commencing August 1

The 2022/23 season will be interrupted by the World Cup, which means that every time an elite player feels the back of their hamstring, a chorus of ‘Will he be fit for Qatar?’ will resound. Some players will not be taking part in the tournament: Erling Haaland, Mo Salah and Jorginho could not help Norway, Egypt and Italy to qualify. They may well attend the tournament as guests of FIFA, who will also hope that the predicted stars from across the globe can be fit enough to play.

Otherwise, the non-participators will enjoy six weeks away from the matchday grind, which will be especially useful: their clubs’ schedule is packed from now until the mid-November break. They will certainly be keen to relax with a drink, just as fans of their clubs will delight in the array of alcohol offered by Bohemian Brands.

The first match of the Premier League season takes place on Friday night at Selhurst Park. Former Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira is still held in high esteem at the Emirates and, after starting his managerial career in the USA and France, he is steering Crystal Palace to success with an exciting squad including England internationals Nathaniel Clyne, Tyrick Mitchell and Marc Guéhi. Their big new signing is USA international Chris Richards, who will hope to impress Palace fans before (hopefully) joining up with the USMNT (US men’s national team) for the World Cup. Gin and vodka is on offer for Eagles fanatics.

As for Gunners fans, who will be marking 30 years since their domestic cup double this season, there are plenty of bottles for their collection. All are branded with the club crest and are available for free shipping if the order is over £40. There is much to celebrate even before the match kicks off on Friday: new signings Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko have both come down from Manchester City, who themselves open their season with a Super Sunday clash with West Ham, while Fabio Vieira will enable fans to refit the chant for their old Senegalese captain to a man who comes from Portugal and plays for Arsenal.

Nottingham Forest return to the top tier for the first time in two decades. As always happens when a club achieves promotion, Forest have used the windfall from a guaranteed season of TV money to bring in a host of players: Dean Henderson and Jesse Lingard were both not wanted by Manchester United for the coming season; Taiwo Awoniyi has returned to England from Germany to join his old Liverpool team-mate Neco Williams, who has preferred first-team football to fourth- or fifth-choice full-back. Forest fans can enjoy their season with one of the two bottles of vodka which are available. For them, 2022/23 begins with a match at St James’ Park against a Newcastle side going for glory in their first full season under their new ownership.

The Scottish Premier League kicked off last weekend, and there are plenty of clubs represented in the Bohemian Brands drinks cabinet. The two Edinburgh clubs, Hearts and Hibernian, both won their opening fixtures and meet at Easter Road at noon on Sunday, just as the famous Fringe Festival gets underway. Defending champions Celtic hosted Aberdeen last Sunday, while Rangers travelled the short drive to Livingston and won 2-1. Fans of both Glasgow clubs can celebrate their recent title wins with special drinks: we offer Celtic fans an apple vodka and Rangers fans a bottle of champagne in honour of the 2020/21 championship victory.

The English Football League season also started last weekend. We offer bottles for fans of several clubs competing for promotion to the elite league this season, with the Championship disrupted by the World Cup as well. With new manager John Eustace working with his former Watford team-mate and current club captain Troy Deeney, Birmingham City have the Friday night game against Huddersfield Town. They will compete for viewers with the second weekend of Commonwealth Games action in the city. There will be four gold medal events at the athletics track, but Blues fans will turn up at St Andrew’s for their first home game of the season in fine voice having picked up a point against Luton Town last weekend. There are two flavours of vodka available for them, should they feel in a celebratory mood.

After finally achieving promotion in May, Sunderland visit Bristol City in their first away fixture of the 2022/23 Championship season. They have loaned in Everton striker Ellis Simms to play with Ross Stewart, while two of last season’s loanees – Leon Dajaku and Jack Clarke – have made their moves permanent. Clarke scored in the opening 15 minutes of their home game against Coventry City last Sunday.

Patrick Roberts opted to leave Manchester City last season and, after a short six-month deal, has extended his contract and wears the famous number 10 shirt. Sunderland will mark 50 years since their famous FA Cup triumph, which may spur the current squad on to glory and success. As with Birmingham fans, Sunderland acolytes can prepare for those celebrations with one of two flavours of vodka including this strawberry and rhubarb one.