The Premier League fixture list is released on Wednesday morning, and there are plenty of fixtures that Newcastle fans will be keeping an eye on.
With Sunderland’s return to the top flight, some much closer trips to Elland Road and Turf Moor, and of course dreaded away days to Anfield and the Etihad, it’ll soon be time to get train tickets booked and days off scheduled.
But as for the opening weekend, all signs are pointing to us having to wait just a little longer to see Premier League action at St James’ Park.
It’s expected that Eddie Howe and Newcastle United will be set to play away on the opening weekend of the 2025/26 Premier League season, set to take place across Friday 15th August to Monday 18th.
This is due to the Premier League seeking to avoid both our fans and Sunderland supporters both travelling on the same weekend.
And with the Stadium of Light set to host the Women’s Rugby World Cup match between England and the United States on the second weekend of the season, they will be expected to play at home on the opening day, hence why we will be on the road for game week one.
Addressing potential travel issues where two rival teams are both travelling on the same day, the Premier League states “We want to avoid having ‘pinch’ points on the rail and road network.”
As we all know, weekend transport options from the North East to the rest of the country are chaotic enough as they are, but adding Sunderland into the mixture only complicates matters.
This would mean that our first home game of 2025/26 should take place between Friday 22nd August and Monday 25th.
Quite often, one of the promoted teams from the Championship play one of the Premier League’s ‘elite’ sides on the opening weekend.
In the last few years alone, we’ve seen Ipswich host Liverpool and Burnley play Manchester City.
Meanwhile, we’ve been at home for our last three season openers: those being three wins against Southampton, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest, so we would’ve been very lucky to get a fanciful game for the fourth season in a row.