Dick Advocaat will kick off his first full season in charge of Sunderland with a trip to Leicester City on the opening day of the 2015-16 campaign, who narrowly avoided the drop alongside the Black Cats last season.
The first six
Sunderland have really struggled at the start of the season for the last two years, with it being the main reason for them coming so close to relegation as in both 2013/14 and 2014/15 they did not find a win until the later part of October.
This season could well be different for the Mackems though as their first six games offer a decent opportunity to pick up points, with matches against two newly-promoted teams in the form of Norwich City and Bournemouth along with a home game against Swansea and a trip to Aston Villa. All that combined with the opening fixture could see Sunderland sitting pretty in mid-September.
The festive period
Always a crucial time of the season is the festive period as games come thick and fast around Christmas and New Year, offering a great oppurtunity to get much-needed points on the board. The fixture computer has dealt a hard blow to Sunderland this season though as they face Manchester City and Chelsea away before a home game with Liverpool from the 19th of December to the 28th.
To add salt into the wounds for Sunderland fans, the games against Manchester City and Liverpool are also their quick return matches where they have to play them again just a month later. Arsenal away also kicks off December so it could be a pretty bleak winter on Wearside depending on their start to the season.
The run in
The last six weeks of the season are where Sunderland have excelled the last three seasons, and are the sole reason they are going into a ninth succesive campaign in the Barclays Premier League. From Paulo Di Canio's knee slide in 2013, Gus Poyet's miracle in 2014 and Advocaat's tears this year, there have been some incredible finishes to the season at the Stadium Of Light recently.
Once again though the fixtures have made it tough in April and May for Sunderland as they face traditionally tough games against Chelsea and Arsenal at home as well as Stoke City away. They also face teams likely to be scrapping for points down the bottom with matches against Norwich, Watford and West Brom also to come in the run in.
Derby days
This famous old North East rivalary has given Sunderland plenty of joy over the last three seasons with the Makcems enjoying five victories in a row over the Gerodies for the first time in the history of the fixture. A third succesive league double this coming season for Sunderland would see them take the record for most consecutive wins in the fixture with Newcastle holding the record with six straight victories.
The two oppurtunities for this will fall on October 24th at the Stadium Of Light where Jermain Defoe's stunner settled things last season before the trip to St James Park which will occur on March the 19th to get the run in underway, of course the scene of Adam Johnson's last minute winner at the end of 2014.
Final thoughts
Ultimately Sunderland fans just don't want to be in a relegation fight again but for Dick Advocaat to grant that wish he really needs his side to take advantage of a winnable first few games to avoid needing to search for points going into a tough end to 2015.
Should things come down to the run-in again though, Sunderland would probaly back themselves to get out of jail again with a kind last few games of the campaign on paper.