Lady luck was not on Newcastle’s side when the new Premier League fixtures were announced with Rafa Benitez’s men facing Tottenham, Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal in the first five games.
The Magpies know that they need to make a respectable start to the campaign after a summer of speculation off the pitch. Kicking the season off positively will come as a great boost for Benitez, who has once again had to fight off speculation about his position at the club.
Reports emerging about Newcastle’s transfer budget, or lack of, have been constant throughout the summer, with Benitez hoping he can guide his side away from another relegation battle this season.
After a busy pre-season campaign, which featured a tour in Portugal, it’s Mauricio Pochettino’s men who travel to St James’ Park on the opening day of the season. Benitez knows that his side will need to be more clinical in front of goal in the upcoming season and that has to start against Spurs, with chances likely to come at a premium.
Newcastle scored just 39 league goals last season, one of the lowest totals of all the teams who avoided relegation, hence why plenty of strikers, such as Liverpool’s Danny Ings, are being linked with moves to the club.
Tottenham themselves will be looking to start the season brightly, with a push for the top four and possibly a title challenge on the cards for Pochettino’s men. The Magpies may be facing Tottenham at the best possible time, because of their participation at the World Cup.
Whilst August 2018 Premier League odds suggest that Tottenham are favourties to win the game, Spurs have a host of players returning to pre-season later than anticipated after reaching the latter stages of the tournament and as such, Newcastle may come up against something of a makeshift Tottenham side.
Should Newcastle pull off a surprise result on the opening day, it would certainly lift the spirits around the squad ahead of what looks like a nightmare sex of early season fixtures.
