Eddie Howe must overcome concerning Newcastle United stat in Premier League opener v Southampton

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Newcastle United face off against Southampton in the opening weekend of the Premier League.

As the Premier League season fast approaches, Newcastle United will be desperate to get off to a good start in their league curtain-raiser this weekend.

Finishing seventh last time out, Eddie Howe and his side enter the 24/25 season looking to return to European football, having missed out on Europa Conference league qualification thanks to Manchester United’s FA Cup win.

Hosting promotion new boys Southampton on the opening day, St James Park will be a cauldron of black and white as Newcastle fans enter August with fresh optimism.

Toon fans however may not feel as optimistic when they take a look at Newcastle’s worrying opening day record.

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Newcastle United’s opening day record

Magpies boss Eddie Howe will be looking to overcome Newcastle’s concerning opening day record against the Saints this Saturday – with the numbers painting a very mixed picture ahead of the clash.

Stats from FourFourTwo show Newcastle have won just 11 of their 28 games on the opening day, whilst also drawing five and losing 12.

This gives the Magpies an average of 1.36 points per game, which ranks them ninth in the Premier League all-time opening day table behind the likes of Wolves and Ipswich.

Since Eddie Howe’s arrival however, Newcastle’s record on the opening weekend has vastly improved with the former Cherries boss winning both of his opening day games as Toon manager – most recently a 5-1 win against Aston Villa last season.

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The Magpies could be aided by Southampton’s poor record

Despite Newcastle not enjoying the best of records on the opening day, they will be given confidence by the fact Southampton have one of the worst records of all-time when it comes to winning on the opening weekend.

Having won just six of their 24 games on the opening day, the Saints rank second bottom in the all-time list (1.08 points per game) only one place better than Crystal Palace’s miserable record of three wins (1.00 points per game).

So with that being said, will Newcastle continue their impressive opening-day trend under Eddie Howe? or will Southampton re-write history and prove the stats wrong?