2015/16 league fixtures announced... and its Spurs first up

Louis van Gaal will begin his second season in charge of United with a home match against Tottenham after the Premier League fixtures were announced this week.

Mauricio Pochettino's Spurs side will pose a tough opening day test for the Reds, who will be looking to reproduce the kind of form that brushed aside the same opponents in the corresponding fixture last season.

Then, two days before the first leg of the Champions League play-offs, the Reds travel to the happy hunting ground of Villa Park to face Tim Sherwood's Aston Villa.

The first match to really get pulses racing is the visit of Liverpool (a third win over them in a row, anyone) on the 12th September (although that's likely to change due to TV coverage) ahead of a tough run of fixtures for United.

 October has the look of a potentially season-defining month, with three difficult-looking away trips at Arsenal, Everton and Crystal Palace sandwiched by the small matter of the Manchester derby at OT on a provisional date of Saturday 24th October.

November is relatively kinder, with three matches against sides United will be confident of beating as we host West Brom and then travel to newly-promoted Watford before ending with a visit to Leicester.

A home game with West Ham and a trip to Bournemouth kick-off the busy festive fixture list, followed by Norwich at home (19th), Stoke away on Boxing Day (why do we always play there in winter) and then the visit of champions Chelsea to end 2015.

There are no New Year's Day games (the 2nd of January is a Saturday) but we start 2016 at home to Swansea, then travel to Anfield for a blockbuster showdown on the 16th.

Trips to Chelsea and the hosting of Arsenal provide the standout matches in February, while West Brom, Watford and Palace should send United into the second derby of the season (19th March) in decent nick.

Then, its Everton (home), Spurs (away), Villa (home), West Ham (away) and Leicester (home) before we wrap up the season against the other two top-flight newcomers (Norwich away, 7th May) and Bournemouth at home (15th) both of whom could be fighting for their lives in the closing weeks of the campaign.

The kick-off times and dates are almost certainly going to change when the televised games are published so keep an eye out for any alterations.