As all Bournemouth fans held their breath, the fixtures list for the upcoming 2017-18 campaign was released on Wednesday morning at 9AM. It was worth the wait as the Cherries were handed a rather tricky and intriguing start to the new season.
The campaign starts on the 12th of August and draws a close on the 13th of May next year. The men from Dean Court kick off their campaign away to Tony Pulis' West Bromwich Albion and the last day of the campaign sees them travel to Turf Moor to lock horns with Sean Dyche's Burnley.
Games to watch out for?
While, it's tough to pick out fixtures that would matter most to Howe's men in the 2017-18 campaign, a lot depends on where they would be aiming to finish. After this past campaign's ninth placed finish, there will be hopes of finishing inside the top half of the table this season as well, especially after the captures of Jermain Defoe and Asmir Begovic.
The opening fixture itself would be an important one, with the Baggies tipped by many to finish inside the top half themselves. The second game sees Watford travel to the Dean Court in what will be another important fixture for the South Coast club.
The trip to Stoke City is always expected to be a tough one, but Mark Hughes' men will come back from a game against Pep Guardiola's Manchester City. And if the club does float around the dreaded red zone, the last two games of the campaign will be very important. Apart from the trip to Turf Moor, Bournemouth will host Swansea a week before.
When are the big games?
Bournemouth have, in recent years, achieved this reputation of troubling the top six to a decent extent. The third fixture of the campaign will see the Cherries host Guardiola's City and then travel to the Emirates to take on Arsenal.
Two out of the three games in October are tough ones. The first one will see Bournemouth travel to the Wembley to take on Tottenham Hotspur and after the trip to the Bet365 Stadium, Bournemouth will host reigning Champions Chelsea.
It's December though, that will act as a daunting challenge for Bournemouth. The Cherries will face Manchester United, Liverpool and the Citizens in a row, before traveling to Selhurst Park.