**West Ham** will kick off Graham Potter’s first full campaign in charge with a trip to newly-promoted Sunderland—what could possibly go wrong? The Hammers have a grim record on matchday one, having lost our [Premier League](https://www.claretandhugh.info/premier-league-bio/) opener more than any other club (16 times) while leaking a whopping 50 goals in the process.
Perhaps it’s just being the eternal pessimist of being a West Ham fan that has one concerned about a trip to a newly promoted team. It’s a fixture which should be relatively straightforward **IF** the transfer window is navigated correctly.
After the opener against the Makems, things heat up fast. Potter’s first home game sees his former club Chelsea arrive for a London derby that GP will be desperate to win. And the capital clashes don’t stop there: Crystal Palace, Spurs and Brentford complete our first four home games—meaning the London Stadium will very much become ‘The London Derby Dome’ for the start of the campaign.
The festive period offers little relief either. Fulham visit on December 27 before Brighton—another of Potter’s old clubs—roll into town just three days later.
Newcastle become our first visitors from outside London on November 1, while the final day sees us entertain Leeds United—a side we beat in our last home game back in 2023.
It’s a balanced fixture list on paper, but we all know what paper’s worth in this league. For West Ham, it’s about getting early points for everyone’s sake—and avoiding another slow start under the Stratford lights.