Manchester United begin the 2026/27 season at newly promoted Hull City, which is about as favourable a start as Michael Carrick could have asked for.
As the Manchester United fixture list for the 2026/27 campaign was announced on Friday, there won’t have been many supporters unhappy with the start to the season.
Michael Carrick will be confident of getting off to a good start with Hull City and Ipswich Town in the opening two weeks.
United also have a comfortable run-in, but it is the opening set of games that will set the tone for the rest of the season for the Red Devils.
But unlike Ruben Amorim, Carrick doesn’t face a tough start.
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Manchester United handed a favourable Premier League start
Carrick is a winner from the fixture list, being handed a three-game run before Manchester City in the fourth game, which should see United on nine points.
According to Opta Analyst, United actually have the ‘easiest’ opening five games in the league.
United’s average opponent rating is 89.3, with the City game the only ‘difficult’ game.
Newcastle have the second ‘easiest’ start, followed by Liverpool. United’s main rivals this coming season, Manchester City and Arsenal, have the exact same average rating of 90.9.
This is a nice start for United and Carrick, much more so than what Amorim had to face last season. In fact, it was the complete opposite.
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Ruben Amorim had the toughest start for 2025/26
While Carrick has the on-paper easiest start to the 2026/27 campaign, last season, Amorim faced the toughest.
For the 2025/26 season, United faced an average opponent rating of 94.6 in the opening five games, according to Opta.
United lost to Arsenal, drew to Fulham, beat Burnley, then lost to City, before beating Chelsea to conclude the opening five. There was also a loss against Grimsby Town sandwiched in there.
Carrick is set up to succeed this season in a way that Amorim wasn’t, and the English head coach needs to take advantage of the golden start he has been awarded.
The stars continue to align for United to finally make a push for the league title.
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