It’s like Christmas morning for football fans, the fixtures are out and we can start to plan the next nine months and we start and end with two ‘capital clashes’!
We entertain Queens Park Rangers at Deepdale on the opening day of the season, a 3pm kick-off on Saturday 4th August.
And it all culminates on Sunday 5th May, with a 12.30pm kick-off away at Brentford’s Griffin Park.
Click here for a full look at the draft fixture list for 2018/19
Our first away game of the season sees Alex Neil’s side make the long trip to Swansea City to face Graham Potter’s side in their first home game back in the Championship, whilst we also then welcome another of the relegated sides in Gary Rowett’s Stoke City on Saturday 18th August.
A difficult August finishes with a Wednesday night trip down to Norwich City, followed by a game away at Frank Lampard’s Derby County on Saturday 25th August.
The Wednesday ay Norwich is one of four Wednesday night fixtures during the season – two home (Brentford and Middlesbrough) and two away (Norwich and Middlesbrough), this is due to the new EFL TV deal where Sky Sports will show all the Championship’s midweek games live, either on the main channels or via the red button, with midweek fixtures split across Tuesdays and Wednesdays throughout the season.
The first derby day of the season is the last game before the first international break, with Bolton Wanderers coming to PR1 on Sturday 1st September, whilst Wigan Athletic are at Deepdale on 6th October and Blackburn on 24th November.
Christmas sees home games against Hull City on Boxing Day and Aston Villa on 29th December, with a New Year’s Day trip to the New York Stadium to face Rotherham United.
Easter meanwhile has us host Ipswich Town on Good Friday, with the short trip to Wigan Athletic on Easter Monday.
We’ll have reaction and more details throughout the day, including details of when all the TV games will be picked, an analysis of the derby game dates and more throughout the day on PNE.Com and via our social media channels.