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 earlier this month after a successful spell at Sporting Lisbon.

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Amorim’s first game in charge at United Sunday is coming at Ipswich Townwith his new club currently sitting 13th in the Premier League.

It’s a position a club of their stature and success will be keen to improve as they head into a hectic festive period of football.

United will be hoping their latest appointment can help with that, with Amorim a two-time Portuguese League winner at Sporting.

A new era at Old Trafford is set to begin, but the stats show that the opening round of fixtures will be far from kind to their new boss.

Welcome to the Premier League, Ruben

This weekend’s trip to Ipswich will provide 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 games, a 2-1 win at Tottenham before the international break.

United then face fellow strugglers Everton at home, before the next three of their next five league games provide huge tests.

Statistics Eight have them seventh in their match difficulty ranking for this time period with an average opponent 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 are Nottingham Forest, who have so far beaten league leaders Liverpool and sealed a point clear of fellow leaders Chelsea.

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Arch-rivals Manchester City are their final opponents in the next five games in what will be Amorim’s first taste of the local derby.

Although United are not at the top of the table, the final three games will undoubtedly test their squad’s strengths and weaknesses.

Southampton have the toughest race as they face Liverpool, Brighton, Chelsea, Aston Villa and Spurs with an average opponent rating of 93.1.

Brighton have the easiest set of fixtures thanks to a score of 86.1 as they will play relegation candidates Southampton and Crystal Palace.

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Chelsea to make a title run?

Chelsea are third in the table, nine points adrift of league leaders Liverpool, but their upcoming fixtures present an opportunity.

According to Opta’s difficulty stats for the next ten matches, it is Chelsea which awaits the easiest race with an average opponent rating of 87.0.

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The Blues return from the November international break with a trip to 15th-placed Leicester City on Saturday live on talkSPORT.

Villa then travel to Stamford Bridge before of Enzo Maresca side head to bottom of the table Southampton.

Back-to-back London derbies against Spurs and Brentford will follow before the visit of Everton on December 22.

Chelsea return home for a clash against SW6 neighbors Fulham on Boxing Day, with an away game at Ipswich their last game of 2024.

They open 2025 by heading south of the capital to play Palace before Bournemouth becomes their tenth upcoming league test.

Brighton are the closest to equaling Chelsea’s lowest average opponent rating, given their 87.7 score in the coming weeks.

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Everton have the most difficult run of all with a rating of 92.0, with the likes of United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, City, Forest and Villa following.

Once the next ten rounds of matches are completed, fans will be able to get a better sense of how the season could play out.

Liverpool will be hoping to stay top of the Premier League ahead of defending champions City, who are already five points behind them.

Chelsea and Arsenal will compete for the final two spots in the top four, although they currently face competition from Forest and Brighton.

Ipswich, Palace, Wolves and Southampton will be desperate to see their win tally increase from just one in the coming weeks.

The bottom three clubs occupy the relegation places as of now and could be in the race for survival if they don’t improve.

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