Manchester United will face Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City in the first eight fixtures of next season as the Premier League’s official scheduled was released this morning.
The Red Devils endured their worst campaign in the Premier League era last year after finishing 15th in the table while breaking multiple records in terms of position, points, losses, and goals scored.
Ruben Amorim, who took over from Erik ten Hag in November, struggled to mould his new side in his trademark 3-4-2-1 set-up with the painful teething issues on full display throughout the season.
The main excuse afforded to the Portuguese coach was the difficulties of taking over midway through the year, without the benefit of a full pre-season to implement the system and fully articulate his philosophy to his players.
United were aware of the potential impact the decision to replace Ten Hag with a young coach from abroad, who had never managed outside his country, would entail. But even they could not have predicted how badly the campaign would unfold.
INEOS are intent on backing Amorim, however, and granting him the benefit of a full summer programme as well as undertaking a comprehensive overhaul of the first-team squad in the transfer market.
The hope is that the negativity of the past eight months will lead towards positivity next season with both Amorim and his players more attuned to the challenge ahead.
And it is a challenge with the Premier League’s official fixture list doing the 40-year-old coach no favours with an easy start to life in his second season.
But United have been handed a difficult start with four of their major rivals – Arsenal, Chelsea, City, and Liverpool – on the agenda in the first eight matches, as released on the club’s website.
United will welcome the Gunners to Old Trafford on the opening weekend, followed by an away trip to play Fulham and another home game against newly promoted Burnley. It’s then back-to-back grudge matches in Manchester – against City at the Etihad and Chelsea at the Theatre of Dreams – to close off the opening five games.
The Reds then face Brentford away and Sunderland at home before the pivotal trip to Anfield to face Arne Slot’s Liverpool side on October 18th, to cap off a brutal opening two months for Amorim and his men.
Featured image Marc Atkins via Getty Images
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