Opening Day Fixtures

But on the other hand, we have never, ever, played Palarse when we had a manager called Alex Neil.

 

As for the other teams - I wouldn't want Newcastle's fixtures for August and September. I reckon they will do well to pick up 7 points from their first 7 games.

When it comes to April and May, West Brom won't fancy getting many points, they have it nearly as bad as we did last time round.

The run-in for the relegation places might well depend on Watford. They've got a load of games against potential relegation candidates. That could work well for them, or be a nightmare of six-pointers that don't go their way.

 

A glamour tie would have been nice but the first five games give us a real chance for a good start to the season to build confidence:

Palace H
Sunderland A
Stoke H
Soton A
Bournemouth H
Liverpool A

 

Playing Bournemouth away on Jan 16th. Beat them in AN' s first game in charge, Jan 10th. Could start his second year the way he started his first. Well, apart from Stoke away three days earlier.

 

I was close - it is Palace but at home (not away as I predicted)

 

Very happy with the fixtures and I agree that for some reason it all seems less daunting than last time. I think its good we have avoided long runs of playing the top teams together and IF we can get some points on the board early that can only help confidence,

 

With winnable games in the first 5 it is really important we have all our transfers done as early as possible to maximise our chances of picking up points in winnable games.

 

Very true, Mark, but I reckon our present squad could make a good fist of those games with AN in charge.

 

The first thing I checked was the final three fixtures.

Looks like we might have to settle for the Europa league rather than the champions league next season.

 

And then after Liverpool they become winnable again

West Ham A
Leicester H
Newcastle A
West Brom H

Honestly, we could not have wished for a better start, need to hit the ground running and get plenty of points on the board before October, we could realistically bag 20 points from our first 11 games - top of the table at the end of August?
Absolutely loving this fixture list, Spurs away on Boxing Day is perfect for me as well

 

I can't disagree that the start looks great, but that fixture list is totally unbalanced for us - we play five of the top six at home in the second half of the season which means the teams around us we will be playing away in the second half of the season.

We need to keep serious momentum as well as points on the board early or this could be really ugly and with another spiralling downward second half to the season.

 

Sorry Rob, but I don't really follow your thinking there - why is playing five of the top six at home in the second half of the season so bad?

 

Agree, I would much rather have them at home than away in the latter stages of the season.

 

It's a bit hard to tell who the teams around us will be, but it looks more like 5 away and 3 at home, which doesn't seem that bad. Having both Watford and Sunderland at home in the final 5 games could balance that out a bit.

 

Because it means we have fewer teams in and around us who we are playing at home in the second half of the season. In other words, it means the second half of the season is significantly tougher than the first half. Also, I don't have anything to go by on this, but the top teams seem to me to step it up a bit in the closing stages as the race for top four/the league hots up.

My preference would be to have a fair mix - some home some away in the first and the second half. It's not a big point as this definitely looks better than our last season, I was just trying to look at it critically

RER makes a fair point that having Watford and Sunderland at home in the final five is great though, but I wouldn't want to rely on it.

 

"There are no easy games in this league"
Famous words, uttered by Alex Neil, Chris Hughton, Paul Lambert, Nigel Worthington.............

 

... but some games are easier than others

 

................ and in other news Town have a glamour tie for their first game of the season, Brentford (A)

Not an easy start for them as they follow that up with Sheff Wed (H), Burnley (H), PNE (A), Brighton (H),
Reading (A), Feeds (A) ........................

 

"Certainly looking at the fixtures it gives us a good opportunity to do that, (get some points on the board) but as we know every game at this level will be tough.
Read more at http://www.canaries.co.uk/news/arti...fixture-list-2496556.aspx#FH04R0ahVbmXlZsk.99

Holy mother of mercy, I must be a mind reader

 

And a few others Cromer!