Sat Aug 14 Everton A Sat Aug 21 Middlesbrough H Tue Aug 24 Blackburn Rovers H Wed Aug 25 Carling Cup 1 Sat Aug 28 Norwich City A Sat Sep 11 Fulham A Sat Sep 18 Bolton Wanderers H Wed Sep 22 Carling Cup 2 Sat Sep 25 Manchester City A Sat Oct 2 Charlton Athletic H Sat Oct 16 Aston Villa H Sat Oct 23 Manchester United A Wed Oct 27 Carling Cup 3 Sat Oct 30 Southampton H Sat Nov 6 Crystal Palace A Wed Nov 10 Carling Cup 4 Sat Nov 13 Tottenham Hotspur A F.A. Cup 1 Sat Nov 20 West Bromwich Albion H Sat Nov 27 Liverpool A Wed Dec 1 Carling Cup 5 Sat Dec 4 Birmingham City H F.A. Cup 2 Sat Dec 11 Chelsea H Sat Dec 18 Portsmouth A Sun Dec 26 Fulham H Tue Dec 28 Newcastle United A Sat Jan 1 Charlton Athletic A Mon Jan 3 Manchester City H Sat Jan 8 F.A. Cup 3 Wed Jan 12 Carling Cup Semi-Final (1) Sat Jan 15 Bolton Wanderers A Sat Jan 22 Newcastle United H Wed Jan 26 Carling Cup Semi-Final (2) Sat Jan 29 F.A. Cup 4 Tue Feb 1 Manchester United H Sat Feb 5 Aston Villa A Sat Feb 12 Crystal Palace H Sat Feb 19 F.A. Cup 5 Sat Feb 26 Southampton A Sun Feb 27 Carling Cup Final Sat Mar 5 Portsmouth H Sat Mar 12 F.A. Cup 6 Sat Mar 19 Blackburn Rovers A Sat Apr 2 Norwich City H Sat Apr 9 Middlesbrough A Sat Apr 16 Everton H F.A. Cup Semi-Final Wed Apr 20 Chelsea A Sat Apr 23 Tottenham Hotspur H Sat Apr 30 West Bromwich Albion A Sat May 7 Liverpool H Sat May 14 Birmingham City A Sat May 21 F.A. Cup Final
On paper, the easiest possible run into the all-time unbeaten record, I think we need another three games unbeaten.
Not to curse things, but it looks like a pretty good schedule, albeit without having Champions League factored in. There's not a spot I saw where I went "oh, that's not good", like when October rolled around last year and we had that four game stretch against Man U, Newcastle, Liverpool, and Chelsea, all in the Premiership. That could be a bad thing too, though, as those kinds of stretches help to galvanize teams.
So, when do we leave? As far as a possible ArseAm trip is concerned, how about 12/4 - 12/11? Birmingham City and Chelsea at Highbury on successive Saturdays, although that Chelsea match might be moved to Sunday. Maybe even a home mid-week Champions League fixture. C'est posible!
Tuesday February 1, 2005 Manchester United at Highbury. I bet that one gets moved, that fixture always seems to get moved to later in the year.
Jeez, Everton first game of the season again. I hate playing them. I have a feeling we might lose our first game.
OR... pound them into submission as they are a spare side that just might go down next season.. no banana peel here..
Looks good to me. There's a good chance to get that record as long as no one gets hurt these next couple of weeks. I feel better than having Chelsea and ManU at the start. We'll see what happens.
The last month is hellacious (if I can make up a word). If we are chasing a treble it won't be likely with that run. It would be best if we had it won with 4 or 5 games to go which is not likely. The season will likely go down to the last game or second to the last game of the season. Hopefully we'll have a better cup draw this year. Last year we got all PL sides. I have more faith in our CL chase this year for some reason. I think we've turned the corner (I've been saying that for 3 years though).