Analysing our league fixtures

Trying to predict the outcome of matches can be a tough enough thing to do at the best of times but I think there have been more and more unexpected outcomes and shock results in the last few, fantastic seasons; more so than ever before, generally speaking.

It seems, therefore, a slightly mad thing for me to do when casting my eyes over the calendar of our next season’s league fixtures; trying to summarise where & when we might pick up the most points and where our tougher periods may lie…all said with respect to ALL teams, of course.

It seems even crazier to do this before clubs have finished both strengthening and having their sides weakened as players come & go in the summer transfer window but here goes…

August & September

I don’t know what other City fans might think but I believe we’ve been handed a fairly decent start…possibly with a nod towards some tricky away fixtures if those respective sides start their seasons well.

August

Burnley (A)

Newcastle United (H)

Sheffield United (A)

September

Fulham (H)

West Ham United (A)

Nottingham Forest (H)

Wolverhampton Wanderers (A)

With 3 home fixtures and 4 away then, for now at least, I’ve actually gone for 21 points from a possible 21! A FLYING start from us, should my current predictions ‘hold water’!

October & November

With very few league games over this next 8-½ week period – but with a few cup games thrown into the calendar too, I’m sure – I’m less certain about how well we’ll fare in this, the toughest two, back-to-back months we have coming up, in my opinion.

As we move well into the middle of Autumn and with the Champions League group stage fixtures having already commenced in the final third of September; we face league away trips in these two months to Arsenal, Manyoo and Chelsea. Want some home comforts? Well, there aren’t too many there either; with Brighton & Liverpool being joined by Bournemouth as visitors to the Etihad. That’s 4 from 6 teams who finished 2^nd, 3^rd, 5^th & 6^th last season; with both Chelsea & recently-taken-over Bournemouth sure to strengthen and possibly improve too.

I’m so uncertain as to how we might fare in October & November until nearer the time, as squads settle down after both absorbing new talent and dealing with losses, that all I’ll say for now is that if we DO, as I’ve predicted, start the first two months well and then-manage to largely ‘ride the rapids’ in months 3 & 4, with a “good draw” or two mingled with further wins; then we’ll have built a very, VERY solid foundation for the remainder of the season for sure.

December

I’ve put this month on its own because, in comparison to every other month of the season, this one holds the most league fixtures with 7 in total!

I’ve just written about a potentially very difficult couple of months for us, league wise at least. Well, in contrast this month is most-definitely full of “winnable fixtures”, as the phrase goes…with a reminder of what I’ve said with regards to respecting all sides.

Tottenham Hotspur (H)

Aston Villa (A)

Luton Town (A)

Crystal Palace (H)

Brentford (H)

Everton (A)

Sheffield United (H)

Of course, as I type this in June well before we know just how strong sides will look as we enter the 2023 / 24 season, some of those could well look like toughies as we approach the fixture date nearer the time. However, that looks like a month where, should we struggle a little in the previous two months, we can pick up some serious points and gather momentum once more.

What concerns me about this month is the Club World Cup fing, which is to be held in Saudi Arabia in December also – how on EARTH are we to fulfil our domestic fixtures and fit this overseas competition in at the same time?! Send the kids? Unlikely…or not fully at least.

Weird and, like I say, a little concerning with regards to both burn-out and disruption. And not necessarily wanting to look too far ahead nor make assumptions as to where we’ll be in 2025 but I’ve read an article in recent days where FIFA have announced that the 2025 Club World Cup format will include 32 teams played in June and will take place every 4 years thereafter. Nuts!

January & February

In sharp contrast, the following two months consists of “only” six league fixtures; with just two of those scheduled in January. Of course, by then, we have other cup competitions coming into serious play…assuming we’re still ‘in the mix’ by then, of course.

Three at home and three away sees a mixed bag of tricky away games of Newcastle, Brentford, who beat us twice in the league last season albeit it one of those at a time where we’d practically ‘switched off’, league wise and Bournemouth. A completion of these couple of months’ fixtures sees us host Burnley, Everton & Chelsea and so I can envisage us taking at least 14 points from 18 there.

March

The single most difficult month [as opposed to two-difficult, back-to-back months] league wise, in my opinion. Manyoo & Arsenal at home, Liverpool & Brighton away.

By this time, however, we’re usually firing and in full momentum so…“we’ll see”, of course.

April & May

Similar to the opening two months, I think we have a largely favourable, final couple of months.

April

Aston Villa (H)

Crystal Palace (A)

Luton Town (H)

Tottenham Hotspur (A)

Nottingham Forest (A)

May

Wolverhampton Wanderers (H)

Fulham (A)

West Ham United (H)

Spurs away is, of course, the most obvious difficult one out of those eight fixtures – to say we’ve struggled for points on ‘their patch’ in recent seasons would be an understatement. It’s time that changed.

I also have to bear in mind that some of those sides could, by this stage of the season, be scrapping for their very Premier League lives, which of course brings with it its own dangers.

However, in large, that’s another period where we should be looking to take at least 19 points from a possible 24; factoring in the ‘Spurs fing’ plus one possible, struggling side ‘banana skin’ game.

Thank you for taking the time to read – a blog-posting I had no intention of writing until I was sat in front of the PC yesterday morning and simply started typing almost without realising it.

Weird…