WHAT’S in a fixture list, you might say? Well for Wanderers, at least there is no repeat of last season’s horrific festive fixture run against the top four teams.

Manager Gary Megson will be delighted to see that matches against the Big Four have been spaced out much more evenly than they were last season, leaving a relatively comfortable looking start and end to the campaign.

After kicking off against Sunderland at home, in what will be Steve Bruce’s first game in charge of the Black Cats following his summer move from Wigan, the midweek trip to Arsenal has already been earmarked for change due to the Gunners’ participation in the Champions League qualifiers.

Bolton will fancy getting early points on the board against Hull City, Portsmouth, Stoke and newly-promoted Birmingham.

In fact, a home game against Liverpool on August 29 aside, Wanderers will have racked up seven league encounters by the time they meet Manchester United in the Whites’ first local derby.

Christmas is all about family — so it is probably no coincidence that two former Wanderers heroes will be reunited with their old club over the holiday week.

Owen Coyle’s play-off winning Burnley will be welcoming the Whites to Turf Moor on Boxing Day, while Phil Brown, the former Wanderers assistant, brings his Hull City side to the Reebok Stadium on December 28.

Like last season, the run-in also looks relatively appetising with Stoke, Portsmouth, Spurs and, finally, Birmingham City providing opposition in the final month of a campaign which will finish earlier than usual because of the World Cup next summer.

Both local derbies against Blackburn are scheduled for a Saturday at present (November 21 and February 20). However, the home game against Burnley will be played on a Tuesday night in January, and the trip to Eastlands to face Manchester City will be on Wednesday, February 10.

In the Premier League alone, Wanderers fans could rack up around 4,200 miles watching their side play in every away game this season. That’s the equivalent of driving to Paphos in Cyprus and back again.

The average round trip is just under 220 miles but, with seven games less than an hour’s drive away from the Reebok Stadium, the Premier League is certainly not lacking in appeal for those Wanderers fans who relish the atmosphere of local derbies.

Bolton Wanderers Supporters Club spokesman David Blackburn said the fixtures give Megson a chance to get some points on the board.

He said: “If the Arsenal game is moved then things don’t start off too badly for us.

“The trick will be to get some wins early on, otherwise I can only see the fans turning again and things becoming difficult for Gary Megson. Generally, the fixture list has worked out well for us and not going to Liverpool at Christmas is a real bonus. Burnley should be a treat.

“Birmingham at home on the last day of the season looks like a winnable game — and how we do this season will probably depend on how we do against those type of teams.”