Huddersfield Town’s Premier League fixtures were revealed today. I always love this day, as it means you can visualise the season ahead more easily and start planning away trips. Obviously, the fixtures will be subject to change for TV and to fit around European commitments, but we know roughly what our fixture list will be for next year.
I’ve taken a look at the most important bits of the fixture list, including the start of the season, our “easiest” run of games, what’s happening over Christmas, the tricky run we’ve got in February, and of course, the run in.
Opening matches: Chelsea at home and Manchester City away
This looks like a daunting pair of games, but Town confirmed their survival last season by grinding out back-to-back draws against these two teams. So we know we can get something out of these games.
Don’t expect to see Town seeing much of the ball however, it’s likely we’ll sit deep, soak up pressure, and look to hit our opponent on the break. It might not be pretty, but the gulf between the top-six teams and the rest of the Premier League means it’s very risky to try and outplay the top teams.
It’s also worth pointing out that these two clubs are packed full of internationals that will have played at the World Cup, so playing them early means they’ll either be missing key players or they’ll only be half fit.
The “easiest” run of games in the season: Late October to early December
Obviously there are no easy games for Town in the Premier League, but there are games where we know we’ll be competitive and others where it’s more of a David-and-Goliath type of confrontation.
There’s a five game run starting at the end of October where we don’t play any of the top teams, which means we’ve got a good opportunity to put some points on the board. This will be an important part of the season, as we’ve suffered terrible runs in the last two Novembers.
We play Watford away, Fulham at home, West Ham at home, Wolves away and Brighton at home during this period. I’d particularly like to see us beat West Ham, as they took six points from us last season in games were we should have done better.
The Christmas period
After the opening weekend, the next fixture I looked at was on Boxing Day. We’re due to take a trip across the Pennines to play Manchester United at Old Trafford. Tickets are likely to be hard to come by for this game, but it’ll be a post-Christmas treat for any Town fans that manage to get to the game.
Fulham away on the Saturday in between Christmas and New Year isn’t as appealing a prospect, particularly as we got a spanking the last time we played down there. Craven Cottage is a nice, old-fashioned stadium but it’s not easy to get to and the travel time puts me off a bit.
Burnley away on New Year’s day should be a good game. The tactical battle between Wagner and Dyche was intriguing last season, even if the football on display wasn’t always scintillating.
A tough run in the middle of winter
The hardest run of games next season, in my opinion at least, comes in the middle of winter. We play Manchester City and Everton at home, Chelsea away, and Arsenal at home.
While Everton are a bit of an unknown quantity at this stage, this run of games is likely to present a stern test for Town. Doubly so because we struggled in this stage of last season, potentially because of the fatigue brought about from the hectic Christmas schedule.
Home advantage against Man City, Everton, and Arsenal could offer some hope. Town fans will need to be in top form themselves, to make the John Smiths’ Stadium as inhospitable as possible if we’re to get any points from these games.
A tricky run-in
Town’s run of games at the end of the season looks pretty uninviting too, with us playing three top-six teams in our last five games. Here are those last five games: Spurs away, Watford at home, Liverpool away, Manchcester United at home, and Southampton away.
The final day fixture, at Southampton, could be a straight fight for survival if both teams have similar seasons to last year. With a bit of luck we’ll be safe already and can enjoy a relaxing trip to the south coast, however, if we need a result I think we’ll be able to get something.
Our run-in this season is a lot better than last years, so I’m not too concerned.
By the end of the season we’ll have played every team twice, so we can’t complain too much about the order the fixtures fall. It’s down to us to get the points we need over the course of the season.