Five key 2026-27 fixtures for your diary
Happy fixture release day!
We’ve done this merry dance enough to know that - of course - the order in which you face the 19 other Premier League clubs over the course of the season matters. That’s why fixture release day is so important.
Can we fly out of the blocks and bank some points with a winning run in our first few games? How does our run-in look? That’ll be crucial in the race for Europe, or - dare I say it - the battle to avoid the drop.
Now we know the (rough) shape the 2026-27 campaign will take, we can pick out the most exciting - and potentially pivotal - dates in our maiden campaign with our as-yet unnamed new manager.
1. Chelsea (H) - 24 August 2026
How’s this for a curtain raiser?
The SW6 derby under the lights for Monday Night Football. Woof.
It’s Xabi Alonso’s Chelsea, of course. Could it be a battle of the ex-Madrid managers with Alvaro Arbeloa at the wheel? Who knows, because we’re still moving at a snail’s pace.
But this is an exciting way to set the tone for the season and Craven Cottage will be absolutely rocking for this one. We’ll be full of optimism - and piss and vinegar. Let’s have it.
2. Brighton and Hove Albion (H) - 26 December 2026
A home game on Boxing Day?
This will be only the eighth time since the turn of the century that Fulham fans can head to the Cottage full of turkey and mince pies. The last time we we had a home Boxing Day fixture was in 2020, when of course no one could go because of Covid. I think that day everyone was happy to have missed it, given it was a 0-0 stalemate with Southampton. Our barren Boxing Day run is a fixture computer glitch no one can really explain other than perhaps the Met police favour those lot down the road.
This one will be juicy, with both sides expected to be hovering around the middle of the table. It’s a winnable one, too. We’ve not lost against the Seagulls at the Cottage since January 2017. So, I’ve jinxed us there.
3. Brentford (H) and (A) - 12 December 2026 and 24 April 2027
Yeah, I’ve cheated here (just like last year), but the Bees home and away are just as important as each other aren’t they?
Our home fixture comes in the thick of the congested festive period™, where we have no fewer than six games throughout December. Gathering as many points on the board as possible here will shape the second half of the season, so this is is a really well-placed fixture.
The game at the Gtech is also well-placed as it comes at the start of the run-in. Get a result here and we have home games against Everton, Ipswich and Coventry (more on them in a second), and trips to Hull and Old Trafford (I’ll get onto that too). It could set things up rather nicely…
4. Coventry City (H) - 23 May 2027
This will be our final home game of the season - and it’s a tricky one.
Our record against the Sky Blues is dire. Granted, we’ve only played them half a dozen times in the last 70 years, but we’ve not beat them in 70 years, either. The last time we faced them, in the 2021/22 Championship-winning season, we lost 4-1 away and 3-1 at home. Bogey.
But if we’re looking to achieve anything in 2026-27, be that safety of a top eight finish, we’ll absolutely have to pick up three points here. Who knows what state Coventry will be in at that point, but chances are they’ll be a wounded animal fighting for survival. I don’t fancy this one much at all!
5. Manchester United (A) - 30 May 2027
A week later we travel to Manchester to bring the curtain down on 2026-27.
Given we currently have no manager, leaving our transfer strategy even more clouded than it normally is, and no sign of either being rectified any time soon, it will be interesting at this stage to look back and reflect on how the campaign has gone. Have we pushed on on in a post-Silva landscape? Have we regressed? Are we happy? Are we relegated?
Who knows. But if history is any indication (it is not in this instance, but indulge me), the last time we ended the season at Old Trafford, though we lost, we finished in the top 10 in our first season back in the Prem under Marco.
Strap in: it’s all to play for!