The list is published tomorrow. Who do fancy to start the season off? Personally I'd love Stoke at home but we always seem to get a newbie, so my predictions are - 1st game: Hull (H) 2nd game: Liverpool (A)
A Liverpool photo has been leaked and 58 is very close. Liverpool (A) is our second game, and Hull is Liverpool's first game...
Chelsea (H), Liverpool (A), Arsenal (H), Man Utd (A), Man City (H), Spurs (A) Get all the bonus points games out of the way in one go then we can have a clear run for a good 4 months before we do it again around January and then freewheel for the rest of the season knowing we don't have a nasty run in. In reality though it will probably be Sunderland at home first up.
http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2013/june/19/fixtures-announcement Close, Fulhaman - Sunderland away to start, followed by Arsenal at the Cottage. Looks like a decent final run in this time though.
Fulhaman was closest. 17th August Sunderland (A) followed by Arsenal (H) Newcastle (A) West Brom (H) Here is a link to the full list: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/fixtures That a testy start. And I don't know who we've upset but over Christmas we're AWAY to Norwich and Hull before getting West Ham at home on January 1st.
Well, we had a run of home games over Christmas 2012. So the away games this year are just the flip side of that. And Captain, I knew I should have just posted the first two games and pretended I didn't already know!
Tough start for sure but Sunderland could be ideal, especially if they sell Mingolet and Di Canio persists with his Nazi regime.
Just noticed we play Norwich on 12th April. Their final four games are then Liverpool (H) Man Utd (A) Chelsea (A) Arsenal (H). Yikes. What a run in.
Hopefully we can build on away form improvement, before Christmas we’re going to; Sunderland, Newcastle, Chelsea, Palace, Southampton, Liverpool, West Ham, Everton, Norwich and Hull If things go well then it’s not unreasonable to expect, by the New Year, 15-18 points, 11-13 is maybe more realistic. At home it’s; Arsenal, West B, Cardiff, Stoke, Utd, Swansea, Tottenham, Villa & City We’ve got the chance to have a decent run from West B to Stoke, then it looks like it could be a bit staggered with top 5 interspersed with winnable matches. I’d say 16-18 points would be great, I’d expect 15. It’s far too early and a bit hopeful, but looking at some of the teams in the league (and no disrespect intended), namely, Cardiff, Palace, Hull, Norwich, Southampton, Stoke, Sunderland, Swansea, West Brom and West Ham- I wouldn’t say we were worse, although we’ll see what summer transfers come in. The new teams usually find it quite difficult, with some exceptions, although an early season surge followed by New Year slump isn’t uncommon. The teams that managed to stay up following promotion last season might also find it difficult with larger clubs cherry picking players. Stoke, Sunderland, West B and West Ham are all a bit unknown- Stoke and Sunderland are both adjusting to a new manager (liberal use of the word in the case of both) and it could go either way with the W’s. I didn’t include Everton in the list above but it will also be interesting to see how they fare. Moyes has left a strong squad but I wouldn’t be surprised to see players from it leave. Same with Newcastle. I think they've got quite a strong squad but who knows what will happen next with Kinnear, Pardew and the club. Partnering with Wonga and employing Kinnear over such a short space of time, madness. With the large French contingent I could see a split in the squad and a team not gelling together. Although our transfer business isn’t done (hopefully) and its dangerous to even write/speak it- this could be a good season for us. We’re going in stable and established, although there is an ongoing change in some areas of our first team we’ve retained enough senior players to offer some continuity, and the fans aren’t baying for changes.
Well, we haven't made it through the close season yet and we never know what will happen with Berbs - he seems happy but if he got a good offer from a top european club then who's to say he won't leave and then we would have a problem. I broadly agree with the above, although I would question whether we were on a par with Swansea. I think they are a better team, particularly technically, as they are a lovely flowing team on their day. Completely agree with you on Newcastle and if things go badly with JFK & Pardew then they could quite easily end up in the drop zone come the end of the season. Think Everton will be fine, they always manage to recruit good replacements for whoever they lose, but will be interesting to see what happens with Martinez. Despite all the plaudits he gets I just wonder why Wigan were always down the wrong end of the league.
It will be good if we get off to a good start again this season. I know we had the Dempsey saga last year but I thought the high altitude training in the Swiss Alps was good preparation for the new season, and it showed - and thank god for it in the end. I wonder if the tour of Costa Rica will be as good a preparation. Not long to go now lads !
