Fixtures.

[dave.woodhall]

Sat Aug 13 Fulham A
Sat Aug 20 Blackburn Rovers H
Wed Aug 24 Carling Cup 2
Sat Aug 27 Wolverhampton Wanderers H
Sat Sep 10 Everton A
Sat Sep 17 Newcastle United H
Wed Sep 21 Carling Cup 3
Sat Sep 24 Queens Park Rangers A
Sat Oct 1 Wigan Athletic H
Sat Oct 15 Manchester City A
Sat Oct 22 West Bromwich Albion H
Wed Oct 26 Carling Cup 4
Sat Oct 29 Sunderland A
Sat Nov 5 Norwich City H
Sat Nov 12 F.A. Cup 1
Sat Nov 19 Tottenham Hotspur A
Sat Nov 26 Swansea City A
Wed Nov 30 Carling Cup 5
Sat Dec 3 Manchester United H F.A. Cup 2
Sat Dec 10 Bolton Wanderers A
Sat Dec 17 Liverpool H
Wed Dec 21 Arsenal H
Mon Dec 26 Stoke City A
Sat Dec 31 Chelsea A
Mon Jan 2 Swansea City H
Sat Jan 7 F.A. Cup 3
Wed Jan 11 Carling Cup Semi-Final (1)
Sat Jan 14 Everton H
Sat Jan 21 Wolverhampton Wanderers A
Wed Jan 25 Carling Cup Semi-Final (2)
Sat Jan 28 F.A. Cup 4
Wed Feb 1 Queens Park Rangers H
Sat Feb 4 Newcastle United A
Sat Feb 11 Manchester City H
Sat Feb 18 F.A. Cup 5
Sat Feb 25 Wigan Athletic A
Sun Feb 26 Carling Cup Final
Sat Mar 3 Blackburn Rovers A
Sat Mar 10 Fulham H
Sat Mar 17 Bolton Wanderers H F.A. Cup 6
Sat Mar 24 Arsenal A
Sat Mar 31 Chelsea H
Sat Apr 7 Liverpool A
Mon Apr 9 Stoke City H
Sat Apr 14 Manchester United A F.A. Cup Semi-Final
Sat Apr 21 Sunderland H
Sat Apr 28 West Bromwich Albion A
Sat May 5 Tottenham Hotspur H F.A. Cup Final
Sun May 13 Norwich City A

Reproduced with permission from Football League Dataco Ltd.

[frank]

Does anyone know when Sky choose their matches? I think they publish August and September, and possibily October, at the same time, don't they?

[JUAN PABLO]

we havent really got the big teams to later on in the year , hopefully get a few points in the bag early ..

[darren woolley]

On paper it's a good start for us just hope we can get the points on board to give us a good start to the season.

[Dave P]

FA Cup final before the end of the season again ?  Tut Tut.

Not that we have to worry !!

[ADVILLAFAN]

Gutted that I'm on holiday on the 13th August. Fulham is my favourite away ground.

[Caiphus]

How Aston Villa, Chelsea and Man City have the easy Premier League starts for 2011-12
By Brian Sears
20 June 2011
The 2011-12 Premier League season kicks off on 13 August and in the seven rounds of games up to the first international break, Aston Villa have the easiest start, followed by Chelsea and Manchester City, according to the combined strength (or lack of strength) of their opponents. By ’strength’, sportingintelligence’s analysis uses last season’s finishing positions to judge that.
The full breakdown is in the table below but to calculate the ease or difficulty of starts, sportingintelligence assigned each club a number based on last season’s finishing position. Hence Manchester United are 1, Chelsea 2, Manchester City 3 and so on down to Wolves being 17 – as the 17th club who survived last season and take their place for 2011-12.
QPR are 18, for being top of the Championship, Norwich 19 for being second in the Championship and Swansea 20 for making it up to the Premier League via the play-offs.
We’ve simply added up the total ‘ranking’ figures that each club will face in their first seven matches to get a ‘cushy rating’.
The theoretical maximum cushy rating would be 119, if a club played the ‘easiest’ seven teams in the first seven games. The minimum cushy total would be 28, if a team faced the ‘hardest’ seven.
Villa’s cushy ranking is a whopping 93, followed by Chelsea on 88, then City and Fulham on 85.
The smaller the number, the tougher the start. Bolton (53) have the hardest start, followed by Tottenham (54), and Swansea (59).
Villa’s average opponents in the crucial morale-boosting or morale-sapping opening phase had an average position last season just below 13th, while Bolton’s opponents had an average position not far off the European qualification places.
Villa, under Alex McLeish, will not a meet a side who finished in the top six last season in their first seven games.
Bolton will face the top four as well as sixth-placed Liverpool inside their first seven matches.
Of the promoted clubs Swansea and Norwich have ‘tough’ starts with QPR being let off lightly. Neil Warnock’s men will not meet a top six side in any of the first seven games.
In contrast Swansea’s tough start includes visits to Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea before the end of September.
A quirk of the fixture list is that Wigan face all three promoted clubs in their first the games of the season.
It goes without saying that these things will even themselves out, because every club plays every other at some stage of the season, home and away.
But a good or bad start can set the tone for a campaign. And if the table after seven matches has Villa, Chelsea and City riding high, it might not be solely because they’re performing wonderfully, rather they’ve had the relatively easier starts.
The fixture computer has thrown up all kinds of other quirks later in the season. Manchester City’s inaugural Champions League campaign, for example, will feature six group-stage matches where every single one of them is followed by an away game in the Premier League.
The six group-stage midweek dates are 13-14 Sep, 27-28 Sep, 18-19 Oct, 1-2 Nov, 22-23 Nov, 6-7 Dec – and City then go on the road domestically after each, which perhaps doesn’t augur well. Whereas Manchester United’s six Champions League games in the group stages will each be followed by a home Premier League match.
On the flip side, United’s European matches will each be preceded by an away Premier League match.
Swings and roundabouts? Or outrageous fortune? You decide.

http://www.sportingintelligence.com/2011/06/20/analysis-why-aston-villa-chelsea-and-manchester-city-have-the-easiest-premier-league-starts-for-2011-12-20601/

[Caiphus]

December and March-April look like cnuts of months.

[ExclDawg]

Sat Dec 3 Manchester United H F.A. Cup 2

Are they figuring we'll just draw Man U like we always do, so they're just putting it on the schedule ahead of time?

[Newquay_AVFC]

Sat Dec 3 Manchester United H F.A. Cup 2

Are they figuring we'll just draw Man U like we always do, so they're just putting it on the schedule ahead of time?

Were not in the cup untill round 3.

[cheltenhamlion]

I am pretty sure he was taking the piss.

[VillaZogmariner]

When we play Fulham they could've already played 6 competitive games already this season. That is fucking crazy. (Please note - the fixture will not be effected by the Europe League as there is no fixture on the Thursday before).

[The Moose]

That's good - they'll be f*cked and we can register our first glorious AM win!!

[cdbearsfan]

That's good - they'll be f*cked and we can register our first glorious AM win!!

They won't be fucked they'll be in much better physical shape than us... then be burned out by about February.

Remember under John Gregory when we used to enter the InterToto? We'd always be top of the league in October then mid-table by March. A shit time to play them I reckon.

Still, at least it might be sunny for me to have my photo taken with Michael.

[The Moose]

Well, we always looked burnt out after a couple of early Europa Cup games - Rapid Vienna??