The Premier League fixture list will soon be with us.
Posted on June 16th, 2010 | 99 Comments |
The wait is nearly over for Newcastle fans who can again begin to arrange their lives around the new Premier League fixtures which are finally released tomorrow.
Regardless of whether or not we start at home or away, aganst Blackpool or Chelsea, the job of planning our survival, debating where we can nick some points from and looking at which games can be classed as a write off can begin in earnest as a sense of footballing normality breaks out against the backdrop of the World Cup.
Will we be bemoaning the fact that we have to start away at one of the big teams? Will we be happier that we are starting off at St James’ Park against one of the weaker teams in the league? There are people in both camps who will discuss the various merits and pitfalls of each scenario. My own preference is to start off playing against the weaker teams in the league to give us the best possible chance to get the points on the board as soon as as possible, as once we have the points in the bag they can’t be taken away, well, barring a major catastrophe of course, but you get my point.
It’s points on the board that matter the most to us next season as realistically we aren’t going to be putting ourselves in a position where we are battling it out for Europe or anything. Our aim for next year is to finish as high as we can in the league, although if somebody offered me a 17th place finish right now I would snap their hands off.
Traditionally, it has been a target of 40 points to ensure survival, it’s what all the managers say that are likely to bo operating around the lower end of the league and has become somewhat of a cliche. Granted, 40 points would pretty much guarantee survival, but it is also an inflated target that very rarely needs to be reached.
If you look at last season, 31 points was enough to ensure survival. Take a look at the season we got relegated and you will see that 35 points was enough for Hull City to stop up at our expense. On the flip side of that though, and the only time 40 points wouldn’t have been enough, is when West Ham got relegated with 42 points back in 2002/2003.
Alas the wait is nearly over, and 10am is the time that is anticipated for the release of the fixture list. Of course, it can change over the season as games are moved due to other comittments or for TV coverage, but the initial list will at least afford us some idea of what we are up against. I can’t wait!
It’s not all over yet, in fact it’s only just beginning!
1st up wba away, xmas & new year where ever there’s rail & road problems & as far from SJP as they can find.