Southampton: Saints to host Burnley on opening day of 2018/19 season

At 9AM this morning the official Premier League fixtures for the 2018/19 campaign were announced, and they have been kind to Southampton.

The Saints will begin their campaign with a home game against Burnley – Sean Dyche’s side may of finished seventh last time out but Southampton proved they could go toe-to-toe with the Clarets having lost 1-0 and drawn 1-1 in the two fixtures last season.

This marks the third time in succession that the Saints have opened their campaign at St. Mary’s, but that hasn’t guaranteed a good afternoon out for the Southampton faithful, with both of the past two curtain-raisers ending in goalless draws.

In fact, since returning to the top flight, the Saints have won just one of their opening fixtures, having lost half of the six games they’ve played on opening days since gaining promotion to the Premier League in 2012. Here’s to hoping Southampton can overcome that curse this August.

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Southampton will be hoping their campaign gets off to a solid start, as they have a favourable opening set of fixtures. It’ll take nearly six weeks for the Saints to face one of the league’s big boys, as they travel to Anfield on the 22nd of September.

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Between the opening day game and the match against Liverpool, the Saints face Everton, Leicester, Crystal palace and Brighton. All of these are winnable fixtures, meaning Southampton could easily tot up nine points by the time they fave Jurgen Klopp’s side.

Looking at the conclusion of Southampton’s season and they also have a relatively kind finish, meaning if worst comes to worst and they are fighting for survival once again, it won’t be as tough a run-in.

In a mirror to the start of the campaign, a match against Liverpool around five weeks before season’s end is the last ‘big name’ Southampton have to face, as beyond that they face Wolves, Newcastle, Bournemouth and West Ham all before a home game against Huddersfield.

In truth, the whole fixture list looks pretty good and in Southampton’s favour – unlike the past couple of seasons their isn’t an obvious month where the Saints are going to struggle.

The worst period would be December, where they do face four of the league’s top sides they also play Cardiff and the Terriers – both of these are winnable fixtures and would compensate any dropped points against the Manchester and north London duos.

All in all, Southampton’s fixture list makes for a pleasant change to recent seasons – excluding said festive period everything looks well spread, with home games to open and close the campaign too. What’s certain though, is that the excitement for the new season is building!