Brighton & Hove Albion manager Chris Hughton is satisfied that the Seagulls will finish their 2018/19 Premier League campaign on home soil.
The schedule for the new season was confirmed on Thursday morning and the Seagulls will host Manchester City on the final day of the campaign – the boss was pleased with how the side’s matches had come out.
He said, “You look for any potential pluses that you can.
“Finishing the season at home is always good. Boxing Day and New Year’s Day for our supporters is good, not too far.
“Overall it’s a very difficult start, but if you look at some of the important dates for our supporters, it has worked out well.”
Hughton’s team opened their 2017/18 season against Manchester City at the Amex Stadium, as they fell to a 2-0 defeat against the side who would go on to become champions in May.
The Albion manager pointed to the experiences of last season as being vital ahead of the start of the new campaign, and reflected on facing the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool in the first month of fixtures.
“This is our second season. You’d like to think we’ll have more knowledge.
“When we played Man City - first game last season - we were all concerned, because they had a really good pre-season, and people felt we were catching them at the wrong time.
“But as the season progressed and seeing how good they were, we probably caught them at not such a bad time.
“You might catch some of these teams before they get into a real rhythm. All those top six have got a lot of players away on World Cup duty.”