Manchester United are three days away from seeing Ruben Amorim make his touchline debut for the club.
The Portuguese head coach became Erik ten Hag’s successor at the beginning of the month after a successful stint at Sporting Lisbon.
Amorim’s first match in charge at United comes on Sunday at Ipswich Town, with his new club currently sitting 13th in the Premier League.
It’s a position that a club of their stature and success will be eager to improve as they enter a hectic festive period of football.
United will be hopeful that their latest appointment can help do just that, with Amorim a two-time Liga Portugal title winner at Sporting.
A new era at Old Trafford is set to begin, but statistics show that its opening run of fixtures will be far from kind to their new boss.
Welcome to the Premier League, Ruben
This weekend’s trip to Ipswich will offer the perfect opportunity for United to return to winning ways with Amorim at the helm.
They are 17th in the Premier League and have won just one of their 11 matches, a 2-1 victory at Tottenham before the international break.
United then face fellow strugglers Everton at home before the next three of their upcoming five league fixtures offer huge tests.
Opta statistics have them seventh in their fixture difficulty rankings for this period of time with an opponent average rating of 90.8.
Premier League title hopefuls Arsenal host United in the first week of December in a match that could be decisive in the race for Europe.
Next up is Nottingham Forest, who have so far beaten league leaders Liverpool and sealed a point away at fellow high-flyers Chelsea.
Arch-rivals Manchester City are their final opponents across the next five fixtures in what will be Amorim’s first taste of their local derby.
Whilst United aren’t top of the standings, the latter three matches will undoubtedly test the strengths and weaknesses of their squad.
Southampton have the toughest run as they face Liverpool, Brighton, Chelsea, Aston Villa and Spurs, with an 93.1 opponent average rating.
Brighton have the easiest set of fixtures courtesy of a score of 86.1 as they will play relegation candidates Southampton and Crystal Palace.
Chelsea to make a title run?
Chelsea find themselves, third in the table, nine points adrift of league leaders Liverpool – but their upcoming games pose an opportunity.
As per Opta’s difficulty statistics for the next ten matches, it’s Chelsea who await the easiest run with an opponent average rating of 87.0.
The Blues return from the November international break with a trip to 15th-place Leicester City on Saturday, live on talkSPORT.
Villa then travel to Stamford Bridge before Enzo Maresca’s side make their way to Southampton, who sit rock bottom of the table.
Back-to-back London derbies against Spurs and Brentford will follow ahead of a visit to Everton on December 22.
Chelsea return home for a clash against SW6 neighbours Fulham on Boxing Day, with an away match Ipswich their final fixture of 2024.
They open 2025 by heading south of the capital to play Palace before Bournemouth become their tenth forthcoming league test.
Brighton come closest to matching Chelsea’s lowest average opponent rating given their score of 87.7 over the coming weeks.
Everton have the most difficult run of all with a rating of 92.0, as sides including United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, City, Forest and Villa are up next.
Once the upcoming ten rounds of fixtures are completed, fans will be able to grasp a better understanding of how the season could unfold.
Liverpool will be hoping to remain top of the Premier League ahead of reigning champions City, who are already five points behind them.
Chelsea and Arsenal will compete for the final two spots in the top four although currently face competition from Forest and Brighton.
Ipswich, Palace, Wolves and Southampton will be desperate to see their win tallies rise from just one over the upcoming weeks.
The latter three clubs occupy the relegation spots as of now and could be part of the race for survival should they not improve.
