Left-back Conor Townsend believes the start to the Championship campaign is tough but gives promotion-chasing Town a chance to lay down an early-season marker.
The Blues get up and running with a visit to League One champions Birmingham City at St Andrew’s on Friday 8th August before Southampton, one of the other three sides relegated from the Premier League, visit Portman Road the following week.
"Birmingham away, it was almost written in the stars that it was going to be against a promoted team,” Townsend told TWTD having appeared at the club’s fixture release lunch event.
"A tough game. It is a tough start with the first two games but what an opportunity for us to go and start the season off with some real intent.”
Reflecting on the Saints’ visit, the 32-year-old added: "We’ve had some tough games against them in the past couple of years.
"It’s a chance to lay a marker down and if we want to be competing at the right end of the table and doing what the lads did the season before, then they’re the sort of games we’ve got to be winning. It’s a good opportunity for us to get off to a good start.”
Among the fixtures Townsend looked out for following their release were those against the team from whom he joined the Blues for £750,000 last summer.
"Obviously West Brom, having been there for so long,” he added. "We’ve got them the second last game of the season away. Me and [chairman and CEO] Mark Ashton [who was previously a young player, coach and director with the Baggies] were joking before the Q and A that it would be nice to get promoted there. We’ll see.
"I had a quick look, you have a little glance but what you look at as a player is the Christmas period, the start of the season and the end.”
Reflecting on the Christmas period in which the Blues have three away games - Millwall on Boxing Day, Coventry three days later and Portsmouth on Sunday 4th January - in 10 days with the only home match in that spell the New Year’s Day fixture with Oxford United.
"You always hope for a home game over the Christmas period but it obviously wasn’t to be, but we’ve got New Year’s Day at home, which isn’t too bad,” Townsend reflected.
"We’d have liked a home match but it is what it is and we’ve got to try and make sure that in that short span of games we try and get some results.”
Asked whether players take a look at the run-in at this very early stage in the same way fans do, the Hull-born defender said: "You have a glance. You see what you’re coming up against, but the problem is that no one really knows what these teams are going to do.
"There are always surprises with people doing well and people struggling. What you think is a good run-in now could potentially be a really difficult one come the end of the season if teams are in form or if they’ve done better than you expect.
"You have a look but it’s hard to really nail down easy or hard, and I don’t think there are any easy games in the Championship anyway, so it’s always going to be a difficult thing to get promoted.”
Supporters will quickly have looked for the dates of the derbies against Norwich City with the Canaries in Suffolk on Saturday 4th October and the Blues travelling to Carrow Road on Saturday 11th April.
"I heard just before the Q and A that it’s been 16 years since we’ve beaten them, so for the fans, hopefully we can put that right this season. We’ve got a chance to do that pretty early in the season and then the away game is a little bit later.
"They’re going to be good games to be involved in and hopefully we can get a win for the fans.”