Which fixture should United look out for?

Manchester United’s recently released Premier League schedule has been a hot topic of conversation over the past week.

Erik ten Hag’s side will begin the campaign at home to Fulham on Friday 16 August, with an expectant crowd hoping the Reds can ensure a perfect start to the new season.

Any away trip to Brighton soon follows, before our long-standing rivalry with Liverpool resumes at the Theatre of Dreams on August 31.

Looking ahead to the upcoming campaign, The Debate panel, which included Wes Brown, Lou Macari and journalist Ian Irving, discussed what to look out for when the yearly announcement is made.

“Well, it depends. If your talking about teams, it’ll be Liverpool and [Manchester] City,” began former Reds defender Brown.

“Liverpool probably and then you do look at the first game, Christmas, New Year and sort of the last game. Then you look for probably then the other bigger games.

“Arsenal’s, Chelsea’s, Tottenham’s and then just see who you’re playing on your birthday really, to see sort of what’s going on.

“That’s the way I used to do it in that sort of order. Then you can [also] see if there’s going to be any crunch games around Christmas. Exciting ones.”

Having gotten off to a winning start last season against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Ten Hag and his side will hope for more of the same as the Cottagers arrive in M16, in less than two months time.

Popular journalist and broadcaster Irving shared the same opinion, insisting that the first game can really set you off on the right foot moving forward.

“I think starting at home is always important,” added Irving.

“The Friday night fixture reminds me of the Leicester game a few years ago when United won the opening match on a Friday night on opening weekend.

“[That] set them up for what you need to do and that is to start the season with a win and crack on from there.

“If you can start as you mean to go on, with Jurgen Klopp leaving, he’s one of the biggest changes in the Premier League from last season to the new season,” continued the popular PLP regular.

“So having them early [doors] before he’s really got himself settled in that job I think is great for United. “Go out and beat him, set the stall out from the start that United are now going to be up there once again. I think it’s perfect to play them at that sort of stage.”

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