First reactions to Newcastle United Premier League fixtures
The Newcastle United Premier League fixtures came out at 9am on Wednesday morning.
The TV changes for August and September won’t be announced until early July but at least we now know the order of the matches.
Looking at the way the games have fallen, here are my conclusions…
I think Newcastle have been a little unlucky with the opening set of games, obviously you have to play everybody sometime but a good start is a massive help – with timing of games certainly playing a part as well potentially.
Tottenham and Chelsea were streets ahead of the rest last season, Spurs ending the season as runners-up – eight points ahead of Manchester City in third and 10 in front of fourth placed Liverpool.
So the opening game couldn’t be much tougher, I’d take a point now!
One big negative for me is having Huddersfield and Brighton as two of Newcastle’s first three away matches.
Every chance these two could struggle in the Premier League but they will be busting a gut in the early matches before reality potentially sets in, so probably better to have got them later in the season….with no doubt other clubs feeling the same way about facing NUFC!
West Ham and Stoke at home are decent games to have early on with every chance of getting points on the board, though away games at Swansea and Southampton in the first set of eight games could be a challenge, both in terms of travel for Newcastle fans and results in recent seasons have tended to be pretty shocking at both.
Rafa hosting Liverpool in the fourth home match will hopefully be a cracking day.
Other observations…they might be tough matches but great to start and finish the season at St James Park – hopefully with reason to celebrate, or at least look back on a satisfactory season, when Chelsea visit on Sunday 13 May.
The festive fixtures have been relatively kind with Manchester City at home on Boxing Day and Brighton visiting St James Park on 30 December. New Year’s day sees a visit to Stoke but with Burnley and Huddersfield being the closest away trips, there weren’t many great options anyway.
West Ham away on Saturday 23 December maybe isn’t ideal but isn’t too bad for travelling supporters unless TV intervene with a daft kick-off time/date.
The full 2017/18 schedule:
12/08/2017 15:00 Tottenham Hotspur (h)
19/08/2017 15:00 Huddersfield Town (a)
26/08/2017 15:00 West Ham United (h)
09/09/2017 15:00 Swansea City (a)
16/09/2017 15:00 Stoke City (h)
23/09/2017 15:00 Brighton and Hove Albion (a)
30/09/2017 15:00 Liverpool (h)
14/10/2017 15:00 Southampton (a)
21/10/2017 15:00 Crystal Palace (h)
28/10/2017 15:00 Burnley (a)
04/11/2017 15:00 Bournemouth (h)
18/11/2017 15:00 Manchester United (a)
25/11/2017 15:00 Watford (h)
28/11/2017 20:00 West Bromwich Albion (a)
02/12/2017 15:00 Chelsea (a)
09/12/2017 15:00 Leicester City (h)
13/12/2017 19:45 Everton (h)
16/12/2017 15:00 Arsenal (a)
23/12/2017 15:00 West Ham United (a)
26/12/2017 15:00 Manchester City (h)
30/12/2017 15:00 Brighton and Hove Albion (h)
01/01/2018 15:00 Stoke City (a)
13/01/2018 15:00 Swansea City (h)
20/01/2018 15:00 Manchester City (a)
31/01/2018 19:45 Burnley (h)
03/02/2018 15:00 Crystal Palace (a)
10/02/2018 15:00 Manchester United (h)
24/02/2018 15:00 Bournemouth (a)
03/03/2018 15:00 Liverpool (a)
10/03/2018 15:00 Southampton (h)
17/03/2018 15:00 Tottenham Hotspur (a)
31/03/2018 15:00 Huddersfield Town (h)
07/04/2018 15:00 Leicester City (a)
14/04/2018 15:00 Arsenal (h)
21/04/2018 15:00 Everton (a)
28/04/2018 15:00 West Bromwich Albion (h)
05/05/2018 15:00 Watford (a)
13/05/2018 15:00 Chelsea (h)
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