Southampton v Liverpool Man Utd v West Brom Chelsea v Stoke Tottenham v Newcastle Everton v Fulham Sunderland v Arsenal Wigan v Reading West Ham v Man City Swansea v QPR Aston Villa v Norwich
August 18 West Brom (A) 25 Manchester City (H) SEPTEMBER 1 Arsenal (H) 15 Sunderland (A) 22 Manchester United (H) 29 Norwich City (A) OCTOBER 6 Stoke City (H) 20 Reading (H) 27 Everton (A) NOVEMBER 3 Newcastle United (H) 10 Chelsea (A) 17 Wigan Athletic (H) 24 Swansea City (A) 27 Tottenham (A) DECEMBER 1 Southampton (H) 8 West Ham (A) 15 Aston Villa (H) 22 Fulham (H) 26 Stoke City (A) 29 QPR (A) JANUARY 2013 1 Sunderland (H) 12 Manchester United (A) 19 Norwich City (H) 29 Arsenal (A) FEBRUARY 2 Manchester City (A) 9 West Brom (H) 23 Swansea City (H) MARCH 2 Wigan Athletic (A) 9 Tottenham (H) 16 Southampton (A) 30 Aston Villa (A) APRIL 6 West Ham (H) 13 Reading (A) 20 Chelsea (H) 27 Newcastle United (A) MAY 4 Everton (H) 12 Fulham (A) 19 QPR (H)
3 of last years top 5 played before the end of September! BR better get to work very quickly! All at home too; hope we rectify last years home voodoo.
A good thing though; if we do somehow manage to click & are in contention for a CL spot that final run in of games isn't the worst I've ever seen?
never ceases to amaze me how this is so talked about. In fact I am astonished by the fixation of the first game of the season when in fact its the last ten games and how they stack up that would decided far more. no thread about that.... who gives a flying f about day one?
Apparently the 15 or so people on this thread. My take was that it was relatively light hearted but by all means you take it seriously.....
Always feel it is better to have the harder games at the start, the clubs nearer the bottom tend to struggle nearer the end of the season especially the promoted teams Sayin Citeh,L'Arse n Yernited 1st 3 home games is probably a tad tougher than I wudda liked. 10 -12 points from 1st 6 will be a very good return
Very interesting to see how the first three home games win. Get through those unbeaten and it get be a good catalyst for a strong season.
Is this when you 'embarrassed' us by scrapping a 0-0 draw with Vorm the man of the match? Idiots aside, it's certainly a baptism of fire for BR. Think we can target a maximum of 10 points from the opening fixtures, and we'd be lucky to get that. I'm not optimistic.
I agree with what you are saying with playing the lower teams towards the end of the season but then, if you have the harder games at the beginning but you don't start the season too well, the club, manager, players, etc are under immediate pressure to improve. I like a decent run in so the last half a dozen games are non top six sides, but other than that I think a good mixture throughout is best. Oh, and avoid the bigger sides around the Christmas period too, makes it easier to use the squad and rest players
It is always hard to predict results at this stage of the season but, considering we play Man City, Arsenal and Man Utd in our opening three home games, I'd be happy to come out of the opening six fixtures with between 10 and 12 points
