Fixtures have fallen nicely - Hughton

Chris Hughton is pleased with Norwich's fixture list and feels they have been handed an 'even spread' of difficult and winnable games.

Hughton, who was recently drafted in from Birmingham as Paul Lambert's successor at Carrow Road, insists he is looking forward to getting back into pre-season work now the fixtures have been revealed for the new Premier League campaign. And, while Hughton would have preferred to get his Canaries' tenure underway with a home game, he is happy with a trip to Fulham on August 18 followed by a visit of QPR. There are early season matches against Hughton's former clubs Tottenham and Newcastle, along with Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal, while City have been gifted a festive double header against European champions Chelsea and Premier League champions Manchester City on home soil. All in all Hughton feels the fixtures have fallen well for Norwich and he is now looking forward to getting the new era up and running. He told the Pink 'un: "The most important thing is to get back and start pre-season, to get amongst the games and see the lads on the training pitch. "It has been fairly hectic since I arrived, but this is a season I'm really looking forward to, and I can't wait to get back to pre-season and start working with the players. I'm delighted with the reaction of the players and the fans so far, and if anything that's made me even more determined to get on do a good job." He added: "Generally you'd like a home tie on the first day of the season, I think most people would, but we do have a couple of home games in pre-season for the supporters to be there. I'm sure they will be in fantastic voice at Fulham, then of course we're at home to QPR. "I think overall it's a fairly even spread of fixtures. There is always going to be a run of games that are quite hard but I think overall it's quite even. One plus is that over Christmas time we've got two home games, which is good for our supporters."