The release of the fixture lists has certainly whetted Sam Allardyce’s appetite ahead of the new season.
Sunderland will travel to Manchester City on the opening day before hosting Middlesbrough as the Wear-Tees derby returns to for the first time since 2009.
The Black Cats are heading into their 10th straight season in the top flight and Allardyce shares the fans’ excitement ahead of the 2016-17 campaign.
"Fixture release day is always an exciting time for the fans as they get set for the new campaign,” he told safc.com.
"We have a tough start, facing Manchester City in Pep Guardiola's first game on the opening day of the season, but it's definitely a fixture we'll be looking forward to, you’ve got to relish these games.
"Meanwhile Middlesbrough in the first home game is a great fixture.”
The squad are set to return to pre-season training in the coming weeks, and Allardyce says the comprehensive preparations will have the side fully ready for the first whistle of the new campaign.
"We know we need to start better than we did last season and everything we do in pre-season will be geared towards making that happen.
"There's only a couple of weeks to go until the players return for training and then the hard work will begin."