Though at least the first four of those away trips aren't especially far: Bournemouth, Palace, Spurs and Brighton. This is the first time we've been in the Prem that I've looked at a new fixture list and thought we could reasonably hope to get something from the majority of games. Perhaps this will mean it's the first season we have a horrid time... :/ It would be great to catch Burnley out in their first home Premier League game of the season. Yes! If they win their first qualifying round, then they will have the second leg against their second opponent on August 16th - theoretically only 2 days before they play vs us, so I suspect that game will be pushed back to the Sunday or Monday. If they progress after their second qualifying round, then they will also have the first leg against their third opponent already in the week after our game, so might also have half an eye on that when playing us.
Good timings for the Everton games. We can beat them at Goodison* in December to start Silva’s downward spiral and we can pummel them at home in February to put him out of his misery. *Disclaimer: If we have managed an away goal by then.
The fixture list bit of the website is clearly wonky. But the article also links to a PDF which is correct and the graphic at the top of the article is correct too.
I'm pleased that our usually awful January and February can be excused by being entirely away from home. Shame we don't have a bigger team to start against, I think the only reason we got a point against Liverpool was because they were rusty.
Once all the League 2 teams have got together and decided who’s turn it is to knock us out. I’m betting Stevenage. Wilmot to have a mare on his debut against his old club.
Typical of the FA trying to one-up FIFA again by announcing the fixture list today. No wonder England never gets to host the World Cup.
Correct about the Europa Cup - we could be knocked out before the new PL season starts....didn't West Ham suffer that fate 2/3 years ago? It would be a shame if Burnley v Watford is on a Sunday...the crowd could be embarrassingly low with poor away support as well as poor home support. Doubt it will be on TV.
Nobody wants to watch Burnley vs Watford was the very reason one TalkSport presenter used for arguing why the top 6 deserve more of the PL overseas rights revenue.
So here’s a quick question for everybody. When was the last time we lost our opening day fixture and to whom? I was quite surprised by the answer assuming my quick research was correct.
Yes that’s what I thought. Amazingly long unbeaten opening day record eh? Incidentally Brighton look like being our first Saturday 3pm opponents at the Vic for a second successive season.
Yeah.. would never have thought that. I wonder how many sides have gone that long without an opening day defeat? Incidentally we also lost the first game for the five seasons preceding the Everton game. So our opening day record since 2001 reads.. LLLLLLWDDWDWWWDDD. Quite bizarre really.
I always remember the first AB full season for losing the opening match then playing Argyle on a lovely warm sunny evening down in Devon. We were 1-3 down and the gloomy friend I was with was busy predicting a miserable season under our young and inexperienced and relatively new manager. Cue an Ashley Young inspired fightback, a terrific win at Cardiff in our next match (televised on the Friday night I think) and the rest was history!
I was there. Bugger of a coach trip. Ben Foster should've been sent off for handling outside the area. Imagine if he had. The season, plus his career could well have gone down a totally different route.
Yes. It was only his second match for us and there was a lot of surprise we’d signed him and a lot of anxiety after the Preston defeat and 3-3 draw at Argyke that maybe we’d signed a dud. Ah the joys of judging a player (or manager) too soon lol.
Yes the coach home was a fair amount of moaning about him. I remember the first 30 minutes we were awful then King and Young ripped them to shreds.
You are correct of course Malt it was Chris Powell, that was a bizarre season really it was so hard for us to win a game, remember up at Bolton just about to get a point and Danny Shitu decided to handle under no pressure in the box, cue another point lost! That's was an awful season we won five games all season with 28 points! whereas in 99/2000 we had 6 wins and finished with 24 points. At least now we are up to winning over 10 per season!
