Southampton have learned when and where they will be facing their opponents next season as the Premier League released the 2018/19 campaign fixture list on Thursday morning.
The south coast team will be eager to have a stronger twelve months ahead having just narrowly avoided the drop in the 2017/18 season; a year that fans will want to swiftly forget about and put at the back of their minds.
Mark Hughes, who dramatically steered the ship clear of relegation in the latter stages of last term, begins his permanent tenure at the helm of St. Mary's on home turf as the Saints welcome Sean Dyche's stern Burnley outfit on the opening weekend, August 11th.
First month for the Saints
Southampton, looking at the fixture list, will be quietly confident of picking up some points during the month of August with three fixtures to look forward to; two on the south coast with another in the north-west.
A game at St. Mary's against the Clarets gets their campaign under way, a game which saw Dyche's men walk away with a victory after Sam Vokes netted a late winner last season.
Hughes takes his squad to Merseyside the following week as Everton entertain the Saints for what will be the former Watford man's Marco Silva's first Goodison Park game as Toffees boss, and a ground Southampton endured despair last time out when a late Tom Davies equaliser spared the visitors all three points.
Then the club end the month at home with Leicester City providing to be the opposition and a team who humiliated the Saints back in December after walking away with a 4-1 win to their name.
South coast derbies
The two opposition that never prove to disappoint when they encounter Southampton are AFC Bournemouth and Brighton & Hove Albion - who both share the south coast with Hughes' men in the Premier League.
The latter travel to St. Mary's on September 15th, following the international break that month, before the Seagulls host Southampton for the reverse fixture on March 30th.
AFC Bournemouth versus the Saints also provides to be quite the entertaining match-up and the first fixture between these two outfits is October 20th at the Vitality Stadium prior to the St. Mary's encounter which turns out to be the second to last home game for Southampton on April 27th.
Full Fixture List
August
Burnley (H) - 11th
Everton (A) - 18th
Leicester City (H) - 25th
September
Crystal Palace (A) - 1st
Brighton & Hove Albion (H) - 15th
Liverpool (A) - 22nd
Wolverhampton Wanderers (A) - 29th
Chelsea (H) - 6th
AFC Bournemouth (A) - 20th
Newcastle United (H) - 27th
November
Manchester City (A) - 3rd
Watford (H) - 10th
Fulham (A) - 24th
December
Manchester United (H) - 1st
Tottenham Hotspur (A) - 5th
Cardiff City (A) - 8th
Arsenal (H) - 15th
Huddersfield Town (A) - 22nd
West Ham United (H) - 26th
Manchester City (H) - 29th
Chelsea (A) - 1st
Leicester City (A) - 12th
Everton (H) - 19th
Crystal Palace (H) - 30th
February
Burnley (A) - 2nd
Cardiff City (H) - 9th
Arsenal (A) - 23rd
Fulham (H) - 27th
March
Manchester United (A) - 2nd
Tottenham Hotspur (H) - 9th
Watford (A) - 16th
Brighton & Hove Albion (H) - 30th
April
Liverpool (H) - 6th
Wolverhampton Wanderers (H) - 13th
Newcastle United (A) - 20th
AFC Bournemouth (H) - 27th
May
West Ham United (A) - 4th
Huddersfield Town (H) - 12th