Sir Alex Ferguson is likely to be deeply unhappy with the Premier League fixture list after it emerged that Manchester United will have to play away from home after five of their six midweek Champions League group matches, including trips to Liverpool, Newcastle United, Chelsea and Aston Villa. The other away game is against Manchester City at the start of December.
With City at home in the Premier League when United are away, it follows that the champions have only one trip to make after midweek European action. That game is against Chelsea at the end of November.
The situation is almost a reversal from last year, when City were away from home after all six of their Champions League group ties while United had the benefit of playing at Old Trafford after every European midweek game during the group stage.
Chelsea also have only one away match after their Champions League group games (against Sunderland) while Arsenal have three trips (Manchester City, West Ham United and Villa) to make.
Ferguson has complained about the Premier League fixture list in the past. He was unhappy in the 2008-09 season that United were forced to play away from home after each Champions League away fixture.
He also expressed his annoyance that they had to play each of the previous season's top nine away from Old Trafford in the first half of the season and suggested that United would send a representative to the Premier League to monitor how the fixtures are worked out ahead of the 2009‑10 campaign.