For the third year in a row, Newcastle United will kick off the Premier League season with a home fixture. But rather than a hat-trick of season openers against Tottenham Hotspur, the Magpies will welcome their North London rivals, with Arsenal travelling to St James’ Park when the action commences on August 11.
When we last met Unai Emery’s men on home soil, Rafa Benitez’s United, unfortunately, ran out 2-1 victims, courtesy of goals by Granit Xhaka and Mesut Ozil, with Ciaran Clark bagging a late consolation strike.
Following the visit of the Gunners, Benitez will then be hoping to better our last result against Norwich City, as we hit the road for our first away tie of the campaign on August 17, who the Magpies have beat on 24 occasions throughout the club’s history.
Boxing Day will be another special occasion for Newcastle, too, as we will face Manchester United in our first post-Christmas encounter, having travelled to Anfield to face Liverpool in 2018.
The calendar year is then rounded out with a home clash against Everton, before we kick off 2020 with a tie at home to Leicester City, who we beat 1-0 when Benitez’s men last took on the King Power natives.
With Sunderland still lingering down in League One, our most important home fixtures for the 2019/20 campaign come on October 5 against Manchester United, May 2 against Tottenham and May 17 against Liverpool, leaving Benitez’s men with a challenging run-in.
Having the Reds visit Tyneside on the final day of the season means we also continue our run of only having one road game on the last day since the 2013/14 term.