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The Premier League 2025/26 fixtures are set to be released on Wednesday 18th June, with fans across the country eagerly waiting to see who their team will face on the opening weekend and when key clashes will fall.
No club draws more global attention than Manchester United, and their opening-day opponent is always a headline fixture.
So, what if we tried to predict who they’ll play first?
While it’s impossible to know for sure, patterns do emerge.
By looking at historical data, fixture quirks, and Premier League scheduling tendencies – such as which types of teams United tend to face early on, who they never get matched with, and when newly promoted sides are usually scheduled.
We’ve used AI to build a projection model to forecast United’s most likely opponent.
We analysed every Manchester United opening fixture since the Premier League began in 1992, noting the league position of both United and their opening-day opponents from the previous season.
We then factored in this year’s landscape – the full list of 20 clubs competing in 2025/26, alongside their finishing positions from 2024/25.
Finally, we accounted for well-known Premier League quirks.
For example, big-six clashes are almost always avoided on match-day one.
Newly promoted clubs are often scheduled to play away from home, and major derbies, like United vs Liverpool or City are almost never used to kick off the season.
From there, trends began to emerge.
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