Manchester United

The Red Devils finished sixth in the Premier League last term, and the main goal of new head coach Erik ten Hag will be to help the club return to the top four in the table.

The 20-time English champions will have the distraction of Europa League football next term, though, with the club set to compete in the group stage of the competition.

Due to the 2022 World Cup, the group stage of the Europa League will be completed by early November, so the Red Devils will play twice in September and three times in October in the competition.

Here, Sports Mole picks out three talking points from Man United's fixture list.

Ten Hag's competitive opener comes at home to Brighton

Ten Hag will manage Man United at Old Trafford for the first time in a pre-season clash with Rayo Vallecano at the end of July, but his first taste of competitive action in the dugout in Manchester will be against Brighton on the opening weekend of the 2022-23 Premier League campaign.

The 20-time English champions will play six times during pre-season, tackling Liverpool, Melbourne Victory, Crystal Palace, Aston Villa, Atletico Madrid and Rayo.

Ten Hag will be bidding to get his players up to speed for the start of the new campaign, and Man United will certainly not be underestimating Brighton, who thumped them 4-0 when the pair locked horns in the latter stages of last season.

That said, the Red Devils have never lost at home to Brighton in the Premier League and had won seven straight fixtures against the Seagulls before the four-goal reverse on May 7.

Brighton finished ninth last term under talented head coach Graham Potter, though, and while Man United have avoided facing a big-name club on the opening weekend, there is no question that the Seagulls are capable of making it an unhappy start to competitive action for Ten Hag.

Man United welcome Liverpool in third match of campaign

To suggest that Man United did not enjoy their two Premier League meetings with Liverpool last season would be a slight understatement, with the Red Devils suffering a 9-0 aggregate defeat.

Indeed, Jurgen Klopp's side won 5-0 at Old Trafford last October before recording a 4-0 victory at Anfield in April, and the Merseyside giants have not lost to Man United in the league since March 2018.

While the Red Devils finished sixth in the table last term and failed to secure a trophy, Liverpool took Manchester City all the way in the Premier League, reached the Champions League final and lifted both the FA Cup and EFL Cup during an impressive campaign.

The two sides will lock horns in pre-season on July 12, but they will meet in a competitive meeting at Old Trafford in the league on August 20.

A positive result would leave the fans confident of a strong season under Ten Hag, but another defeat, particularly if it is a struggle for Man United, would be a real setback for the Red Devils, even at the incredibly early stage of the campaign.

October, April look to be testing months for the Red Devils

In October, Man United will take on Manchester City, Everton, Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and West Ham United in the Premier League - six very difficult matches for different reasons.

Man City will again be looking to win the title, while Tottenham and Chelsea will be expecting to stay in and around the top four, and West Ham will want to push for Europe once again.

Newcastle's form in the second half of the 2021-22 campaign has to be taken seriously, and they could be huge contenders for European football next term, while Everton will surely be an improved side next term following a difficult 2021-22 campaign.

Man United will also play three Europa League group games in October, so Ten Hag will have to heavily rotate his squad in order to navigate a difficult period.

April is also a difficult month for the Red Devils, with six matches against Newcastle, Everton, Nottingham Forest, Chelsea, Tottenham and Aston Villa.

There will be trips to Newcastle, Forest and Tottenham, while the home fixtures against Everton, Chelsea and Villa are all capable of being difficult fixtures for Ten Hag's side, who will face West Ham, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Bournemouth and Fulham in their four matches in May.

Man United's 2022-23 Premier League fixture list in full can be found here.