Six game challenge for Newcastle United – Get through that and in a very strong position | OneFootball

The 2025/26 Premier League fixtures have been released and as Newcastle United fans, we have something tangible to be excited about for the next few days at least.

Most people’s eyes will have been quickly drawn to the dates of the Tyne-Wear derby and we’ll have to be patient for those games, as they are in December and March.

One thing that does jump out is the difficulty (at least on paper) of the opening six Newcastle United Premier League fixtures – Villa (A), Liverpool (H), Leeds (A), Wolves (H), Bournemouth (A) and Arsenal (H).

Sky Sports were quick to report that it is the third hardest start, behind only Man U and Arsenal, and that doesn’t take into account our shocking recent history against Bournemouth.

We’ve had tough starts before, notably in our last Champions League campaign in 23/24, where we faced Villa, Man City and Liverpool in our opening three fixtures followed by a trip to our other south coast bogey team in Brighton. We walked away with only three points from our opening four games that year, a resounding 5-1 thrashing of Villa, before tame away performances at Man City and Brighton with a heartbreaker against Liverpool sandwiched in between.

We eventually righted the ship with victories over Brentford and Sheffield Utd but it wasn’t an ideal start in our pursuit of another top four finish.

This August, Newcastle United will face a similarly tough challenge, so the question is, can NUFC improve on the nine points of 23/24 and set ourselves up for a fast start to what is hopefully, an improved finish on last season.

Worst Case Scenario

Let’s get the negativity out of the way first.

I think the worst Newcastle United could manage over the six opening Premier League fixture is a measly four points. You could conceivably taste defeat in the first two games followed by a point on the road at Leeds, where Elland Road won’t have had the optimism crushed out of it, that early in the year.

The game against Wolves is probably the banker of the first six but then defeat is not beyond the realms of possibility against Bournemouth and Arsenal. This would really be the stuff of nightmares for Eddie Howe and he’d be under immediate pressure, especially if the Champions League gets off to a slow start, and the League Cup third round game ends in defeat.

Best Case Scenario

If we get our recruitment right, there is also no reason why we can’t go unbeaten over the first six.

Ignoring last season’s tame effort at Villa Park we managed to do the double over them the season before. Villa are likely to be hampered by PSR concerns over the summer so it’s hard to say how they’ll look opening day, but a win is certainly a possibility.

We managed to beat Liverpool comfortably in the League Cup final and with Salah and Van Dijk a year older, and Wirtz not yet settled, we can also win that game.

Leeds, for all the excitement about their return, are a poor-to-average squad managed by one of the worst managers statistically in Premier League history. Wolves again feels like a comfortable three points.

Next up is Bournemouth and here’s hoping Eddie Howe finally gets the monkey off his back and we take points from that game. Finally, we all know we live rent free in Arteta’s head, and after their own tricky start we could line Lego-head up for an early sacking.

We’ll not win all the games but, victories against Villa, Leeds, Wolves and a win and two draws from Liverpool, Bournemouth and Arsenal, could see us onto 14 points and a place in the top two.

Most Realistic Scenario

Personally, I think we’ll get between nine and 12 points from the opening six, which would be a decent start.

I’d be happy with a point to start the season against Villa. I’m not sure we’ll beat both Liverpool and Arsenal but feel 2-4 points from those games is realistic.

Wins against Leeds and Wolves feel like the most likely outcomes, whilst I’ll take anything I can get from Bournemouth but wouldn’t be surprised to lose again.

As a rule I like to look at groups of games rather than placing too much importance on any one fixture. If we can come away with 12 points from these opening six games, even if we lose one which we don’t feel great about, I think you can be happy overall.

Now if you don’t mind, I need to go and prepare mentally for December 13th.

Newcastle United 2025/26 Premier League fixtures:

September Sat 13 Wolves (H) Tues 16, Wed 17 and Thur 18 – Champions League Matchday 1 Sat 20 Bournemouth (A) W/C Mon 22 Sept – League Cup third round Sat 27 Arsenal (H) Tues 30 and Wed 1 Oct – Champions League Matchday 2

October Sat 4 Nottingham Forest (H) Sat 18 Brighton (A) Tues 21 and Wed 22 – Champions League Matchday 3 Sat 25 Fulham (H)

November Sat 1 West Ham (A) Tues 4 and Wed 5 – Champions League Matchday 4 Sat 8 Brentford (A) Sat 22 Manchester City (H) Tues 25 and Wed 26 – Champions League Matchday 5 Sat 29 Everton (A)

January Sat 3 Crystal Palace (H) Wed 7 Leeds United (H) Weekend of Sat 10 – FA Cup third round Sat 17 Wolves (A) Tues 20 and Wed 21 – Champions League Matchday 7 Sat 24 Aston Villa (H) Wed 28 – Champions League Matchday 8 Sat 31 Liverpool (A)