United's superb opening-day record

The Reds have won 17 of  our previous 26 fixtures on the first weekend of the season, more than any other club, drawing four and losing five.

Since the Premier League began in 1992, United have averaged 2.12 points per game from the opening weekend fixtures, with Huddersfield Town being the only side in the top flight who can better that tally.

Even more impressive is our record during the first home match of the season. The Reds have won 19 of our 26 introductory Premier League games at Old Trafford. Since losing our very first home match of the Premier League, against Everton in 1992/93, United have been beaten just once in an opening Old Trafford fixture.

We last kicked off with a home defeat in 2014, when a Gylfi Sigurdsson-inspired Swansea City beat United in Louis van Gaal’s first game as manager.

Van Gaal's successor, Jose Mourinho, boasts one of the best records for managers past and present when it comes to starting a new Premier League season with a win.

Friday's match at Old Trafford will be the manager's 10th opening weekend in English football and he is yet to taste defeat in that time, with victories in eight of his previous nine matches, giving the boss a win-percentage of 88.89 per cent. The next best record for a manager who has overseen five games or more in the top flight is Sir Alex Ferguson, with a win percentage of 61.9%.

Mourinho's record is unblemished when it comes to day-one victories as United boss, winning both matches in his time at the helm. He also overcame Sir Alex's Reds in a campaign opener while at Chelsea as his maiden game in charge of the Blues ended in a 1-0 triumph thanks to an effort by Eidur Gudjohnsen.

Last season, we began with a 4-0 victory against West Ham, thanks to a league debut double from Romelu Lukaku, and late strikes by Anthony Martial and Paul Pogba.

Lukaku became the sixth player to register an opening-weekend brace for United in the Premier League era, but no-one has ever netted a hat-trick for the Reds in the first game of the season in the competition.