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Newcastle face tough opener

Author: Craig Williams
Date: 04/08/2009

The opening weekend of the Championship season has several mouth-watering games to look forward to with the meeting of West Brom and Newcastle United at The Hawthorns the pick of them.

The two teams were both relegated from the Premier League last season and have endured difficult summers, particularly Newcastle.

West Brom are the online betting favourites to make an immediate return to English football's top-flight but lost their manager Tony Mowbray to Celtic in the summer with Roberto di Matteo succeeding him.

However, Albion have managed to keep most of last season's players and have also added Swindon Town forward Simon Cox to their ranks in an attempt to strengthen a strikeforce that found the net only 36 times last season.

Newcastle are of course in disarray with no manager, takeover plans still sketchy and a group of players who managed to lose a pre-season friendly against Leyton Orient 6-1.

Habib Beye and Sebastien Bassong are expected to follow Oba Martins out of St James' Park but big-earners like Alan Smith, Joey Barton and Fabrizio Collocini are still on the pay-roll. The Magpies' chances of getting their season off to a winning start appear slim.

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The other relegated team, Middlesbrough, have a tough match against Sheffield United to prepare for.

Gareth Southgate has already lost Stewart Downing and Mido, while Tuncay and Afonso Alves also seem to be heading away from Teesside.

The Blades may have sold Kyle Naughton to Tottenham but the squad that reached last season's play-off final remains largely intact and boss Kevin Blackwell has also managed to bring some more quality to Bramall Lane by signing Ched Evans and Kyel Reid.

Elsewhere, Hillsborough hosts the first South Yorkshire derby of the campaign when Sheffield Wednesday entertain Barnsley, while newly-promoted Peterborough United have a very difficult opening fixture at Nigel Clough's Derby County.

Leicester City were League One champions last season and are expected to do well again this term. They face Swansea City at a good time, with the Welsh side still recovering from Roberto Martinez's summer departure to Wigan Athletic.

QPR, who flattered to deceive last season, face a Blackpool side that is again tipped to struggle, at Loftus Road, while Neil Warnock returns to one of his former clubs when Crystal Palace take on Plymouth Argyle at Selhurst Park.

Scunthorpe United are the first visitors to the new Cardiff City Stadium while two teams - Preston North End and Bristol City - that are once again expected to be in contention for a play-off spot, meet at Deepdale.

Reading begin their post-Steve Coppell era by entertaining big-spending Nottingham Forest while Malky Mackay's first game in charge of Watford sees Doncaster Rovers visit Vicarage Road.

It may be just over ten weeks since Burnley beat Sheffield United in last season's play-off final, but all the signs are that the 2009-10 Championship campaign could be one of the best ever.

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