The first is that everyone has to play everyone twice, home and away, so it’s pointless worrying about how things fall.
An alternative view, however, is that the vagaries of the schedule can play a major role in shaping the course of a team’s season. Take that perspective, and Sunderland should be reasonably happy with the list of matches they have been handed this morning.
Nothing in the Premier League is going to be easy for the Black Cats. But an opening month that sees home matches against West Ham United and Brentford sandwiching a trip to Turf Moor to face Burnley is about as inviting a start as Sunderland could have wished for.
Throw in the trip to Crystal Palace which is the first match in September, and none of the opening four games feature a team that finished in the top nine in the Premier League table last season. Even at this stage, it feels as if Regis Le Bris’ side will have to hit the ground running if they are to mount a successful survival push.
On paper at least, the autumn gets progressively more difficult, before December threatens to be a brute of a month. It starts in the most difficult way possible, with back-to-back away matches at Anfield and the Etihad, before becoming even more intense with the opening derby of the season.
Newcastle United will visit the Stadium of Light on the weekend of December 13 – perhaps the fact that they will have had a Champions League group game in the week preceding the Wear-Tyne showdown will play in Sunderland’s favour.
The December challenges don’t finish there though, with a trip to Brighton’s Amex Stadium preceding a festive home double-header against Leeds United and Manchester City. One of the quirks of the fixture list is that Sunderland face City twice in the same month.
Two London trips kick off 2026, with Sunderland heading to Tottenham and Brentford, before March delivers two of the most eagerly-awaited away days of the season. The Black Cats head to Elland Road to face Leeds two weeks before they make the short trip to St James’ Park for the return derby at Newcastle.
If Sunderland are going to survive, they will almost certainly need a strong finish, but that won’t be easy with the way the fixtures have fallen. The final two home games of the season pit the Wearsiders against Manchester United and Chelsea, with the matches sandwiching a first-ever trip to Everton’s new Bramley Dock Stadium, which will be the final away game of the campaign.
Hopefully, Sunderland will be looking up rather than down by the time that game rolls around. For that to happen, they could well need a strong start.
