Swans will once again be the first to face a new United manager
Oh just sod off! The fixtures have been released for next season and guess what? Once again we've got a Manchester club! That now makes it three out of four Premier League campaigns we've started against one of the Manchester teams, and given we've conceded four goals in each of the prior games you'd hope we might be able to do a little better this time around.
We'll be away to Louis Van Gaal's new-look United on August the 16th, before much more winnable home games against Burnley and West Brom. Next up are tricky away games to Chelsea and Sunderland, interspersed with a home game against Southampton. The full fixture list can be found here: link
I for one can't wait for the new season to get underway - no matter who we're playing opening day. If Bony is fit we're always going to score goals, and unless Van Gaal immediately addresses a fracturable United defence we could well get a result. Until the World Cup is over and the Dutchman takes charge it's difficult to see how our opponents will line up, and until the Swans also conclude their own transfer business you can't begin to predict how our midfield will look. That makes analysing the game at this point impossible, but it does whet the appetite.
I do like the idea of getting it out of the way early on though. Our last three games are Arsenal (A), Man City (H), Palace (A), so the more big teams we can see off early in the season the better. We'll need to be safe before playing Arsenal and points win prizes. Get safe early on, and then push on up the table. With no Europe to worry about this year I think we'll be just fine, though there's definitely something in the talk of "the magic fourty point mark" still as we are by no means automatically safe. This is a tough league and we need to get off to a good start lest we once again get dragged into a relegation quagmire - last season we definitely benefited from other teams being really, really poor and I don't want us to be relying on that once again.
Nevertheless, the fixture list being released is always truly the beginning of the new season for me. Once the World Cup is done and dusted preparations will begin to take shape, and I look forward to seeing who's brought in before we kick off at Old Trafford in two months time.