How does Europe affect United's Premier League campaign?

The division's fixtures for next term were released earlier today (Thursday) and, while you'll hear cynics drone on that we play each team twice, home and away, as in every other year, that's probably a little dismissive of the nuances that the fixture list can throw up.

 

One fresh consideration for Erik ten Hag and his squad is, of course, how qualifying for the Champions League might impact our Premier League campaign, and vice versa. Most managers would prefer to avoid a lengthy European away trip before a Manchester derby, for example, and would welcome a Champions League home match before a difficult Premier League away game.

 

We don't yet know our Champions League group-stage opponents – the draw will take place on Thursday 31 August – but we do now know which Premier League teams we'll face in the weekends either side of our European games.

 

So, who will United play before and after those critical group-stage matches?

 

We'll begin our quest for a fourth European Cup/Champions League title just a few days after taking on Brighton & Hove Albion at Old Trafford in the Premier League (16 September). The Seagulls beat us in both league meetings last term – though we were triumphant in April's FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.

After our opening Champions League game, we'll make the short journey north to Turf Moor, to take on newly promoted Burnley. The Lancastrians were imperious in the second tier last year, but face a tough start in the Premier League. They'll take on Manchester City, Aston Villa and Tottenham within their first five games.

 

Another home match, against Crystal Palace (30 September), precedes our second Champions League fixture. We'll be back at Old Trafford again following our European excursions, when we welcome Brentford on 7 October.

 

 

A potentially awkward trip to Sheffield United (21 October) tees us up for matchday number three and, after our group-stage schedule reaches the midway point, we're back at Old Trafford for the first Manchester derby of the season (28 October) against Pep Guardiola's Manchester City.

 

It's Fulham away (4 October) before our fourth Champions League game and then we'll host Luton Town at Old Trafford following the midweek Champions League engagement. It's the first time the Hatters have visited M16 since 1991. To date, they've lost all 16 of their games at the Theatre of Dreams, by an aggregate score of 47-8.

 

 

Our penultimate group-stage game is bookended by two tricky Premier League fixtures: away to Everton (25 November) and away to Newcastle (2 December). We won at Goodison last year but faltered at St James' Park, but both grounds have reputations for hostile atmospheres.

 

Bournemouth's visit to Old Trafford (9 December) is the warm-up for our final group-stage date and, after matchday six is negotiated, we'll head to Anfield  – the site of last season's most harrowing away defeat – for a crack at Liverpool. The Reds will be expected to show plenty of defiance, given that damaging result in March, so this is another key week where our Premier League and Champions League schedules could intertwine in a fascinating way.