Huddersfield Town, Newcastle United, Southampton, West Brom and West Ham all have tough ends to the season in the Premier League.
Huddersfield Town manager David Wagner
A couple of days ago we took a look at the sides with the toughest starts in the Premier League next season, and now we take a look at the teams with the trickiest ends to the 2017-18 campaign. Premier League new boys Huddersfield Town will be wary of their end to the season, which involves a number of difficult games, and they’ll no doubt hope to have some kind of cushion going in to that run.
When looking at the teams with the most difficult start, we defined that as games in the first two months of the season (August and September), and in looking towards the tail end of the season we will do likewise, focusing only on the final two months of the season (April and May), which will involve six games. Here are the three teams we believe have the hardest ends to the season:
Huddersfield Town
Huddersfield Town are looking to complete the signing of Aaron Mooy from Manchester City
Huddersfield Town won promotion in the most thrilling way possible with a play-off final win over Reading via penalties in May, and will now play in the top flight of English football for the first time since 1972. David Wagner has done an extraordinary job with the West Yorkshire outfit, but has a serious challenge on his hands keeping the Terriers in the Premier League.
Huddersfield have a relatively kind start to the campaign, but a brutal end. Their last six games in April and May begin okay, with a trip to Brighton before playing host to Watford. But after that, it’s hard to see where the points are going to come from. The Terriers end the season with games against Chelsea, Everton, Manchester City and Arsenal. Good luck lads.
Southampton
Southampton have tough end to the season in the Premier League
It’s been a busy summer already for Southampton, clouded by the departure of Claude Puel and the Virgil van Dijk to Liverpool debacle. One would expect the Saints to be unlikely to be challenging for anything at the top of the table but not in too much danger at the bottom either come the end of the season, but if they do have something to play for, their tricky run-in could prove damning.
They begin April with a trip to the Emirates to face Arsenal, before playing host to Chelsea, travelling up to Leicester City and entertaining south coast rivals (sort of) Bournemouth. The end of the season is concluded with an away game against Everton and a home tie with Manchester City in May, one of the most difficult ends to the season the Saints could have had.
West Ham United
Improvement will be expected of West Ham in 2017-18
Following an impressive debut campaign for Slaven Bilic, last season was rather underwhelming for the Hammers. The club’s lack of major investment in the summer twinned with an unpopular stadium move has led to an icy relationship between the club’s hierarchy and supporters. A poor league finish blighted by Dimitri Payet’s departure didn’t help, but the Hammers will be hoping for much improvement in 2017-18.
They’ll want to have some serious points on the board by the time April comes about though if they are to have a decent campaign. West Ham begin the month with a trip to the champions Chelsea, followed shortly with a journey to the Emirates to face Arsenal. Those two games are sandwiched by a more winnable home tie with Stoke City, before their final three outings against Manchester City (H), Leicester City (A) and Everton (H).
Do you agree with our selections for the three teams with the hardest final run-ins in the Premier League?
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